Rose Weasley and the Army's Return
by kellythefangirl
Summary: The fourth book following the next generation of Harry Potter during their time at Hogwarts. Rose Weasley, Al Potter, and Scorpius Malfoy return for their fourth year at Hogwarts to find changes have been made to the school with a serious political agenda. Deciding to fight back, they find that a more sinister threat to the students might be brewing among the teachers themselves.
1. Malfoy Manor

**Hi everyone! This is the fourth book in the Rose Weasley series, and the first three are on my account so I'd read those first if you're new, otherwise I hope you like the first chapter! Please review; thanks! -Kelly**

CHAPTER 1

MALFOY MANOR

Rose was really starting to get irritated at how much she cared that she hadn't seen Scorpius Malfoy in two months. She and Al had written to him, of course, and it wasn't as if she was bored; in the meantime, she'd turned 14, gone to France on holiday, and played in no less than 27 Quidditch matches with her cousins. She was still excited despite herself, though, when she'd gotten a letter inviting her and Al to come over to Malfoy Manor for a night and go to Diagon Alley together afterwards. She'd known from him that his parents were trying incredibly hard to make up for his childhood, but she honestly wasn't expecting an invitation. Her father didn't like it, of course. But she and Al had gotten permission after a couple days, and she ran down the stairs two days later with an overnight bag to meet Al by the fireplace.

"So I know that you two know how to use Floo Powder, just… make sure that you speak very clearly," Rose's mother said again, and Rose rolled her eyes.

"I know, mum," she said, and she handed her a handful of powder.

"All right, well, have fun," she said. "Al, you'll follow Rose in a second."

"Right," Al said, nodding.

"Remember, Rose, if you see mounted Muggle heads in the parlor, just come straight back," James called from the kitchen, and Rose glared at him as she threw the powder onto the fire. She stepped in after it turned green and felt the strange feeling of the fire on her legs.

"Malfoy Manor," she called out as clearly as she could, and the next thing she knew she was tumbling out of a fireplace in a large stone hall that almost reminded her of Hogwarts. As soon as she stood up, she a small house-elf running into the hall and stopped a few feet from her, smiling. "Hello," she said.

The house-elf almost looked surprised. "Oh! Hello, Miss Weasley! May I take your bag to your room?"

"Oh, er, no, my mum would kill me if I let you," Rose said.

"May I at least show you to your room?"

"Sure," Rose said, and the house-elf nodded. "What's your name?"

"Hetty, Miss Weasley," she said, smiling widely. Just then, Al came tumbling out of the fireplace and Hetty immediately ran over to him. Their conversation was much the same, and before long Hetty was leading them down a long winding tunnel towards what she called the keep.

"Is that where the bedrooms are or something?" Al asked Rose in a whisper.

"Well, yes, in medieval castles, so I suppose," Rose replied, and they walked down the corridors following Hetty. They passed very old-looking tapestries, and to Rose's surprise the art looked Muggle. When they reached the entrance to a tower, Hetty opened the door and held it for them to walk through. It led them to a wide open space with a winding staircase breaking at each floor to a short hallway with one or two doors on the sides of it. Hetty led them up two flights to the second floor, which was two from the top of the tower as far as Rose could tell. There were two rooms on the floor and Hetty opened one for Al, then one for Rose. There was a bed with designs delicately carved into it, and not much else in the room apart from a bedside table and a closet, along with an armchair in the corner.

"These are our guest rooms; are they to your liking?" Hetty asked them, and Rose and Al glanced at each other, amused.

"Er, yes, definitely," Rose said, and Hetty looked pleased.

"I think Master Malfoy is in his room, just one floor above us, I'll let him know you've arrived," she said, and ran up the stairs quickly. The second she was gone, Al looked at Rose in astonishment.

"We get our own rooms?" he asked. "This is mad."

Rose shrugged. "I was sort of expecting this, honestly. It's still strange, though. I mean, I almost feel bad. We gave him a cot in Hugo's room when he stayed with us."

Scorpius came down the stairs with Hetty then and Rose nearly had to force herself to act like she was only as happy to see him as Al was. "Hi, guys. What do you think?" he asked nervously.

"You live in a bloody castle, mate," Al said incredulously.

Scorpius looked uncomfortable. "Er, yeah, I guess. I think dinner's ready, we can go down to the dining room."

"Sure," Rose said, and they started walking down the stairs, Scorpius leading them as Hetty had disappeared somewhere. "So how've you been?" she asked him as they walked through the manor.

"Well, you know, I've written. We went to the British Quidditch finals, they bought me a Firebolt 5, basically they're trying too hard to be good parents or something."

"At least they're trying," Al said.

"Yeah, I guess. They won't leave me alone, though, it's a bit annoying actually."

After a few minutes, they reached a room off of a long corridor at the bottom of the tower and Scorpius opened it to reveal a long black table with many chairs, though only five places were set. "I guess we can just wait here," Scorpius said, shrugging, and they sat down in the three chairs with set places next to each other. In about a minute, Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy came into the room from another door, with Hetty following carrying two platters of food, which she set down in the middle of the five chairs while the Malfoys took the two seats across from them.

"Hello, it's good to see you again, Rose, Albus," Mrs. Malfoy said, smiling, "did you get settled into your rooms all right?"

"Er, yes, thanks," Al said. As they started eating, Rose heard Scorpius in her head.

 _I wouldn't mention your mum's work, if they ask you change the subject. She's doing Lucius's trial, if you didn't know._

"So, have you been enjoying your summer holidays?" Mr. Malfoy asked after a moment of silence.

"Good," Rose said, "My family and Al's went to Cannes together in July."

"Oh, Cannes is beautiful," Mrs. Malfoy said. "My side of the family owns a villa there."

Scorpius looked down at his plate as Al glanced at Rose incredulously.

 _Those are from the 17th century,_ she thought, and Al nodded slightly.

"Where exactly are we meeting your parents in Diagon Alley tomorrow?" Mrs. Malfoy asked them.

"Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, it's at the end of the main street," Rose said. "My dad works there with my uncle, so he'll take us home at the end of the day."

"All right, perfect." There was another quiet moment then, and Rose tried to think of ways to break the silence until Mr. Malfoy finally did.

"Er, do you follow Quidditch? Of course you do," Mr. Malfoy muttered under his breath, "sorry. Right. Er, I suppose you support the Harpies, Albus."

Al looked grateful that someone had mentioned something he could talk about and the meal progressed with minimal awkwardness from that point, to Rose's relief. She didn't speak much and tried to avoid making eye contact. As soon as they had finished eating, Mr. Malfoy said, "Well, I expect you three would like to catch up, er, Scorpius, why don't you show them the library?"

Rose perked up at this as Scorpius's parents left. "You have a library?"

"Well, yeah. This place is like 800 years old, of course we have books, Weasley," he said. "Come on." He opened a door on the other side of the room and led them down yet another hallway until they reached a room that was very tall and old-looking, stacked high with shelves and shelves of books from all different centuries. Scorpius laughed out loud at Rose's face, and Al sat right down in one of the ornately framed chairs on the walls.

"I don't even know where to start," Rose whispered, and Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"Calm down, Weasley," he said, "here, er, that way's history, I'm sure you'll like that." Rose walked to the corner of the room and picked a book off the shelf. She knew she was reading for a little too long, as she started to lose track of time, and when someone tapped her on the shoulder she cringed when she realized there was no longer light coming in through the windows behind her.

"Rose, it's 11:00. Scorpius and I have been playing chess for three hours. Can we go to bed, please?"

"Sorry," she said, "you should have told me sooner."

"Er, he wouldn't let me. Said you looked far too happy over there. Kept looking at you and laughing."

Scorpius was standing by the door and Rose shot a glare at him. He shrugged and opened the door, and the two of them walked towards him and out into the hallway.

"You don't get to just stare at people, it's rude," she muttered as she passed him. He just laughed, which only made her angrier, and secretly a little pleased he was looking at her, though she wouldn't even admit that to herself.

"I guess I'll see you guys in the morning," Scorpius said when they reached the guest rooms in the tower. Rose entered her room after a quick goodbye and laid down onto the bed, a little too embarrassed to do anything else. She couldn't sleep very well, though, and as much as she liked the library, the rest of the manor felt oddly cold to her. She couldn't imagine growing up here.

After a little while, there was a knock on her door and she opened it for Scorpius, standing in the hallway in his pajamas. His hair was much less tamed than usual and Rose started to think it looked cute before she blocked out the thought. "Hi, Malfoy," she said, surprised.

"Hey. I can't sleep. Can I come in?"

"It's your house," Rose shrugged, and he walked inside and sat down in the chair while she shut the door as quietly as she could and walked over to the bed.

"So… you can't sleep either, can you?" he asked, and Rose nodded.

"It's just… really…"

"Weird? Creepy? Gloomy?" Scorpius suggested. "Yeah. Exactly. That's what I've been starting to realize this summer. It wasn't just Lucius, it was the whole feel of the bloody place too."

Rose looked at him, knowing she looked concerned. "How have you really been doing?"

Scorpius sighed. "I'm… trying. Because I said I would. I'm fine."

"You don't seem fine."

He shrugged. "Whatever. We'll be at school in two weeks anyway."

"Yeah," Rose said, looking down. "I… can't imagine what it was like to grow up here."

"Whatever, Weasley."

"No, it's not whatever. I'm… I'm sorry," she said, and he shook his head.

"What do you have to be sorry for?"

"I don't know." There was a small silence and Rose could tell he was looking at her intently, thinking.

Finally, he said, "Have you told your Al's dad about the stone?"

"No," Rose sighed. "I just… there's never been a good time."

"You really need to," Scorpius said. "Who knows when Nott will come looking for it."

"I know," she said. "I'll… I'll tell him when we get home, okay?"

"Okay, good." He paused for a minute. "So… how's your summer been?"

"Fine. Kinda dull, to be honest. Same as all the others," Rose said.

He smiled a little. "Miss me?"

Rose rolled her eyes. "You wish." She really hoped she wasn't blushing.

"…I missed you," he said quietly. "And Al," he added quickly. She nodded.

"All right, fine, I missed you, Malfoy, happy?"

He smiled smugly and she glared at him. "I can go if you want. You look tired."

"No, it's fine," Rose said. "It's actually less… gloomy when you're here."

"Same to you."

Rose hesitated. "You can sleep in the chair if you want.""Yeah, okay." Rose settled down into the bed and Scorpius opened the closet and took out an extra blanket. "Night, Weasley."

"Good night."


	2. The Leaky Cauldron

**Hi everyone! Thanks so much for reading, and please review! Thanks again! -Kelly**

CHAPTER 2

THE LEAKY CAULDRON

Rose woke up the next morning to the sound of someone knocking timidly on the door. She got out of bed and glanced over at the chair to find, a little surprised, that Scorpius was still there and fast asleep. She walked over to the door and opened it for Hetty standing smiling in the hallway. "Good morning, Miss Weasley," she said cheerfully. "Master Malfoy is ready to take you to London through the Floo network in half an hour. I was going to wake Master Scorpius but I don't think he's in his room."

"Oh, he's in here, Hetty. I'll get him up," she said, and Hetty looked a little confused, but nodded.

"I'll wake Mr. Potter then," she said, and crossed the hall as Rose closed the door. She walked over to the chair and shook Scorpius's shoulder.

"Come on, Malfoy, wake up, we have to get ready to go," she said, and he grumbled something sleepily in response. Rose shrugged and started to gather her things in her bag. She was about to go to the bathroom to change when there was another more forceful knocking on the door. She opened the door for Al, who was already dressed and looked curiously into the room.

"Was Scorpius really in here all night?"

"Yeah, so?" Rose asked defensively.

"If I told your dad he'd have a heart attack."

"If you tell my dad you'll be dead, Al," Rose said, and he nodded nervously.

"Right. Well, glad you two had your little sleepover, I bet you talked all night," he muttered.

"We didn't actually, and it's not like we left you out on purpose, he showed up here in the middle of the night," Rose said. "Besides, you room with him at school."

"Okay, well, you've got a point there," Al admitted.

"Yeah, Al, stop complaining," Scorpius called from the chair, still sounding sleepy but sitting up straight now.

"Whatever, you two chat while I go change," Rose said, and walked out as Al entered, down to the bathroom at the end of the hallway. In a half hour's time, the three of them walked into the entrance hall where Mr. Malfoy was standing, waiting.

"We'll be entering Diagon Alley through the Leaky Cauldron's fireplace," he said as Hetty arrived with Floo powder. "I'll have to leave you then, since I have business in London today. You can do the shopping and I'll meet you at Gringotts to take you to your uncle's shop."

Rose was the second to arrive at the Leaky Cauldron, with Scorpius being the first, and Al followed quickly after her before Mr. Malfoy came last. This unsurprisingly turned a few heads, as Draco Malfoy hadn't been seen in the public eye for quite a while, nonetheless with a Weasley and a Potter, and Rose tried to ignore the sizable amount of people staring at them.

"I'll see you in an hour or so, Scorpius," Mr. Malfoy said before exiting the pub. As soon as he was gone, a rather short older woman with horn-rimmed glasses came hurrying up to them.

"Oh, bloody hell, no," Scorpius whispered, and Rose realized with dread that it was Rita Skeeter herself.

"Oh, how lucky I've run into all of you!" she said in a voice that was even more irritating than Rose had imagined. "The young heroes of Hogwarts!" she announced to no one in particular, looking at Rose and Al, who looked at each other in disgust. "And the dashing prodigal son of the Malfoys," she added, looking excitedly at Scorpius. "How about we talk, just for a bit, huh?"

"I don't think that's a good idea," Rose said, glaring pointedly at Rita, who looked a little taken aback.

"Oh, come now, dear, just a little while? I'll only ask a few questions, I promise," she said, looking at them as if they were the best thing that had happened to her all day. To her, that might well be true. "Would you like anything? Butterbeer? I'll buy if you'll talk," she offered and Al looked as if he was dying to get out. "Yes, let's sit down, come," she said, and pulled Rose into a nearby booth.

"So. Just two months ago, Theodore Nott attacked Gryffindor House, and you fought him off. Children. How has it affected you? Let's start with you, Albus," Rita said, and Al looked terrified.

"Er, I'm… fine. I—I mean, I suppose I had a few… nightmares?"

Rita nodded as she scribbled something down before setting her parchment down on the table and looked expectantly at Rose.

"We're fine. We've been in situations like that before," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Right," Rita said, looking a little disappointed. "Of course you have. What about your brother James, Albus?" she asked, quickly looking back at him.

"What about him?" Al asked.

"We were told he was put in the hospital wing," she said. "How has he been doing?"

"He's—fine. We're all… fine. He's, you know, he's older so he— he was more prepared, I guess?"

"Where is your brother? Is he in town?" Rita asked, and Al shook his head. She pouted. "Pity. I'd love to get a picture of him, I've heard he's quite handsome, readers would love it." Scorpius looked at Rose with wide eyes as Rita turned to him.

"So, everyone's just dying to know, Scorpius, why did you return to your family? Does it have anything to do with your grandfather's trial?"

"I don't really want to answer that," he said gruffly, and she seemed to change tactics. She looked directly at Rose and smiled sweetly, though the quill that continued writing after she'd let go of it was concerning Rose.

"Ignore the quill, dear," she said offhandedly. "Anyway—has it affected you in any way that your mother may condemn your friend's grandfather to a lifetime in Azkaban in just a few weeks?"

"Excuse me?" Rose asked. "No, it doesn't, my mum's not doing anything wrong, and Lucius Malfoy's hardly Scorpius's grandfather, even he'll tell you that."

"Oh, brilliant, thanks, Weasley," Scorpius muttered as Rita returned her focus to him enthusiastically. "Is that true, Scorpius? After they disowned you, did you forgive them or is there still tension in the air?"

"It's not that they disowned me, it's that Lucius is a horrible human being," Scorpius spat, and the quill seemed to be having a field day, scribbling endlessly. "I might forgive my parents eventually, but him, never."

"How do your parents feel about your friendship?" she asked the group. "We saw your father, Scorpius, bring you all here, but how about the other two? How does the Chosen One feel about his son being friends with a rumored Death Eater's child, Albus?"

"Can we be finished now?" Al asked nervously.

Rita sighed. "All right, dear. I think we have most of what we needed. But… let's get a picture of the three of you. Especially you, Scorpius, darling, I'd bet anything that you'll soon be quite the heartbreaker."

She took out a camera from a suspiciously small bag and took a quick picture while they stared at her, a little bewildered by the flash, and Rose was sure that the picture was hardly flattering. "Ah. Lovely. I hope to see you all soon," she said, and waved as she hurried out of the pub.

"I reckon she knew we were coming," Al muttered.

"Maybe," Scorpius said. "Actually, she was probably just lurking around London, everyone knows my dad's coming in today to give a deposition to your mum, I think."

"He's testifying?" Rose asked, shocked. "I thought he said he wasn't on their side anymore."

"He isn't," Scorpius said. "He's testifying against him."

They stood, silent, for a little while, before Al said, "Well… we should get our supplies." Rose nodded and Al led the way through the pub to Diagon Alley. They shopped for their materials until it had been a little over an hour.

"I think he'll be at Gringotts by now," Scorpius said, and they started down the path from Flourish and Blott's to the bank.

"Is he really testifying against Lucius?" Rose asked him in a whisper as they walked.

"Yeah," he said. "It surprised me too. Maybe it's for show, but I hope not. He's willingly going back into the public eye by doing this though. I don't know what he's trying to gain from doing it."

"Maybe he's just… changed," Rose said hopefully, and Scorpius shrugged.

"Maybe," he muttered, but he seemed unconvinced. They met Mr. Malfoy at Gringotts and walked the rest of the way through Diagon Alley down to the joke shop, where Mr. Malfoy hesitated a little at the door.

"Maybe we'd better go, Scorpius," he said quietly, and Scorpius rolled his eyes."Dad, it's just a store," he sighed, and followed Rose and Al inside. Rose saw her dad almost immediately, showing a group of children one of the latest products, and they all waited for the kids to disperse before approaching him. Her father looked up and smiled at them, though Rose could tell he was looking more at her and Al than at either Malfoy.

"Hey, guys!" he said cheerfully. "Got your supplies all right?"

"Yeah," Rose said. "But I think we should probably tell you something.""Er, in a minute, Rose," her dad said, seeming to realize that he did have to acknowledge Mr. Malfoy at some point. "Hello," he said, though it sounded a bit more like a grunt.

"Good morning," Mr. Malfoy replied politely, and the two men shook hands rather gingerly. "Er, lovely shop."

"Yeah, it's my brother's, I'm the assistant manager now," he said awkwardly, then added, "Thanks for having them over."

"Oh, it was no trouble, they were very… er, well-behaved…" He coughed and said, "Well, we should go. Come, Scorpius." Scorpius looked as if the encounter had pained him almost as much as it had his father and turned to Rose and Al.

"I'll… see you at school. Sorry about that," he added quickly before heading for the door.

"We'll see you soon, I expect, er, Ron," Mr. Malfoy said awkwardly, and Rose's dad nodded.

"Yes, sure…. Draco." Mr. Malfoy and Scorpius left the shop very quickly and Rose's dad shook his head. "That was bloody uncomfortable. Anyway, what was it you wanted to tell me, Rose?"

"We ran into Rita Skeeter," she said, and her father looked disgusted.

"She sort of made us do an interview. It didn't last very long, though," Al said.

"That's horrible, I'm so sorry. It'll show up in the papers, no doubt. Don't get too angry if she says you said things you didn't, it's Rita Skeeter, she always does. People don't believe her as much as they used to."

"I hope so," Rose muttered. "Is Roxanne here?"

"Yeah, I think so, on the first floor," her dad said. "I'll take you two home on my lunch break, so just stay here for now. It'll just be a minute."

"Okay!" Rose called as she and Al climbed the staircase to the first floor. Roxanne was in fact sitting next to a display shelf, along with Fred, and the two of them were talking in low voices.

"Well, it's not like it's a bad thing that she's getting her message out there," Roxanne was saying.

"I suppose, but the things Molly's been hearing… there's going to be a lot of changes this year, and if Lucy doesn't stay in line, I don't know what will happen."

"What are you guys talking about?" Al asked, and they turned around quickly.

"Oh, hey guys," Roxanne said, sounding a little nervous. "We thought you were our dad."

"What's happening with Lucy?" Rose asked, though she wasn't quite sure she wanted to know.

Roxanne looked at Fred and then said, "She got arrested last night for 'inflammatory protesting'."

"Is that even something you can get arrested for?" Al asked, and Roxanne shrugged.

"Apparently now it is," she said, rolling her eyes. "But Molly's been hearing things… we think Lucy might be in trouble this year."

"Why?" Rose asked. "Are Davis and Clark coming back or something?"

"The ICW blokes? No. There's something completely new," Fred said. "Whatever it is, they're clearly interested in keeping you all silent."

"Brilliant," Rose muttered. "So what's Lucy and James's plan? They said they had one."

Fred looked uncomfortable while Roxanne grinned. "You'll find out."

Rose was going to ask what on Earth that was supposed to mean when she heard her dad calling her and Al. "We have to go," she said, and they started walking down the stairs.

"We have to find your dad as soon as we get home, Al," she whispered to him as they walked. "It's time to tell him about the Stone."


	3. The Potter Legacy

**Hi everyone! Thanks so much for reading, and please review, I love to hear from all of you! Thanks again! -Kelly**

CHAPTER 3  
THE POTTER LEGACY

As soon as they got in the House, Rose whispered to Al, "Tell James that we're telling him," and ran up to her bedroom after quickly stopping to say hello to everyone in the sitting room. She ran right inside and dug around inside her school trunk until she found the Stone. Rose ran back down the stairs and saw Al and James sitting with Uncle Harry at the kitchen table, Uncle Harry looking a little confused. She walked quickly into the kitchen and he looked at her curiously.

"What's all this about?" he asked, and Rose glanced at the people sitting in the sitting room, which had gone mostly quiet in interest to their conversation.

"We, er… we need to show you something we found, well rather I found, at Hogwarts last year. It's why Nott was coming for us. And we're pretty sure it's yours anyway," Rose said. Uncle Harry looked even more puzzled now but he seemed to be taking it more seriously.

"Okay…"

Rose glanced at James and Al nervously and pulled out the Stone from under the table. She cupped her hand so the occupants of the sitting room couldn't see and showed Uncle Harry, and his face became much more grim than it had been. "Ron?" he called out, his voice seeming to shake a little.

Rose's dad responded from the sitting room. "Yeah?"

"Hermione's coming home for lunch, is she?"

"I think so, why?"

"We have a bit of a situation, I think," he said. Rose's dad came into the room and saw the Stone. He stopped dead in his tracks and nodded slowly.

"I'll call her."

Ten minutes later, the sitting room had been cleared and James, Al, Rose, Uncle Harry, and Rose's father were still sitting at the table when Rose's mother Apparated into the kitchen, looking bewildered. "I came as soon as I could," she said, "what's this about?"

"Rose found the Stone, Hermione," Uncle Harry said, and her mother saw the Stone for the first time, which had been moved to the center of the table, and her expression changed the same way Harry's had.

"Um… where? How?" she asked, sitting down slowly.

"Er, in the Forest, last year," Rose said.

"Why were you in the Forest?"

"Does that really matter? How did Nott know you had it?" her father interrupted.

"I… don't know, I think we heard him say something about you giving it to us," Rose said, looking at Uncle Harry, and both of her parents turned to look at him.

"Did you use it?" Uncle Harry asked.

"Well, yeah, of course we used it! I mean, once we figured out what it did," James said, and all three adults looked at him sternly. "What? What did you expect us to do? Ignore it?"

"What did you do with it?" Rose's mother asked, and he shrugged.

"We talked to the first James Potter," he said, grinning, and Uncle Harry stiffened. "And Sirius Black! And Lily met our grandmother. And Remus Lupin once. Hey, do you think we can show Teddy?"

"I don't think that's a good idea," Rose's mother said quietly, and then Uncle Harry looked at James sternly. "You showed Lily? How many people know about this?"

"Other than us and Lil, Malfoy and Harry," James said. "That's it."

Uncle Harry glanced at Rose's parents solemnly. "That's far too many. This has already gone too far. You should have told us when you first found it."

"We didn't know what it even was yet!" Al protested. "And once we found out there was too much going on. And anyway, why is Nott looking for it?"

"We don't know," Uncle Harry said. "I'm going to get the Aurors started on working on it. And we need to keep the Stone somewhere safe."

"Hold on a minute," Rose said, "I still don't understand why the Deathly Hallows are so important."

The adults paused and glanced at each other. Her mother spoke first. "Rose, every powerful wizard in the world wanted to find the Hallows. Including Voldemort himself. If he had truly been the Master of even just the Elder Wand… the results would be disastrous. If Nott gets hold of any one of them… The last time a Dark wizard was in possession of one of the Hallows—"

"Grindelwald nearly took over the wizarding world, I know. But how did they become Uncle Harry's in the first place?" Rose asked.

Uncle Harry spoke after a moment of silence. "The Elder Wand was passed down for centuries before we know anything about what happened. We know that it was created by Antioch Peverell, but after that, the only thing that's certain is that it has an extremely violent history. The victor of each battle the wand's owner was involved in would inherit the wand's loyalty. The real trouble started when two young men were far too ambitious."

"Dumbledore and Grindelwald," Rose said, and Uncle Harry nodded.

"They were both brilliant and wanted power, though Grindelwald was obviously willing to go farther. They were planning to take over the wizarding world, using the Hallows, and rule over the Muggles. Dumbledore was blinded by his emotions and couldn't see what Grindelwald was becoming, or didn't want to. Either way, he didn't stop to think about what they were planning until it was too late, and the fall out destroyed Dumbledore's family. Even so, he couldn't bring himself to fight Grindelwald until they were both in their sixties."

"The battle of Nuremberg, in 1945," Al said.

"He delayed that fight as long as he could."

"While people died," Al muttered. Rose could see him quickly losing respect for his namesake and Uncle Harry seemed to notice as well.

"Al, that was the hardest thing he'd ever done. I think most people would never have been able to do it. The point is, once Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald, the Elder Wand was his."

"But he didn't kill him," James interrupted. "Grindelwald died in 1998. Voldemort killed him, not Dumbledore."

"You don't have to kill the previous owner to win the wand's allegiance," Uncle Harry explained. "That's been the general assumption but it's not true."

"So Dumbledore was the Master of the wand," Rose said. "Who took it from Dumbledore?"

"The next owner didn't take it," Uncle Harry said. "They never even touched it. The year Dumbledore died, Voldemort told Draco Malfoy to kill Dumbledore. He couldn't do it in the end, but he did Disarm him. To the wand, that was enough. Voldemort didn't know that, though; he assumed that, since he ordered Dumbledore's death, the wand was his. But it wasn't. He took it from Dumbledore's grave but at that point it didn't matter. It was already Draco's." Al glanced at Rose incredulously and she heard his voice in her head.

 _We've got to tell Scorpius this._

"When the wand wasn't working for him, he killed Severus Snape, since that was who had killed Dumbledore." Al looked like he might faint. _He named me after these people?_

"But Dumbledore had planned it all out with Snape. He'd told him to kill him when the time came. So he hadn't really defeated him, Draco had. But in a fight at Malfoy Manor, I Disarmed Draco. So the wand belonged to me. And in the end, the wand wouldn't kill its master, and the Killing Curse Voldemort sent to me rebounded and hit him. That's what killed him in the end."

Rose looked at Al and James, who were staring at their father in awe. "How did you get the Stone?"

Uncle Harry looked at her mother and said, "Dumbledore gave it to me. He knew I'd need it when I had to… when at the end of the war—"

"You fought Voldemort?" James interjected, looking a little puzzled at his father's hesitation. He glanced at his son and nodded.

"Yes. He thought I'd want my parents with me, and Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin." Uncle Harry then turned to Hermione and said, "It's too dangerous to keep the Stone here. You're going in again, aren't you?"

"Yes, what are you going to do?"

"Take it to the Auror office, I'll figure out what to do with it tomorrow. It'll be safe there overnight at least." Rose's mother took the Stone and got up."I have to go back in to work, but I'll see you all tonight," she told them, and Rose glanced at Al in alarm. The conversation was clearly far from over.

"Wait, but—how did Dumbledore have it?" Al asked. "And how did it get that crack down the middle?"

Uncle Harry hesitated and said, "No, that's another conversation for another time. When you're all older."

"Hang on," James protested. "I'm nearly of age! Why can't you tell me at least?"

"You're not of age, yet, and even if you were, you'll tell them immediately, I'm not stupid, James," Uncle Harry said. James looked more than a bit angry then.

"You'd fought Voldemort five bloody times by the time you were my age, and three by the time you were theirs. We can handle whatever it is!"

"It's a different time. And you should be bloody thrilled that you haven't had to do that! I went through that so you didn't have to!"

"Oh, yeah, it's so difficult being the Chosen One, I'm sure!" James spat, and he and his father held each other's gaze for a few seconds that felt like years before he raced up the stairs. Rose's mother said an awkward goodbye and Apparated back to London, and Uncle Harry turned to her and Al.

"The Stone's safe, so I don't want to hear any more about this," he said, and Rose couldn't help but notice his voice was shaking a little. "Understood?"

Al glanced at Rose nervously, and she said, "Understood." Uncle Harry nodded and walked out the front door without another word. The silence that had fallen over the entire ground floor was too uncomfortable to manage, and Rose and Al quickly exited up the stairs.

"Should we…?" Al asked as they passed James's room, and Rose nodded. Al pushed open the door slowly and said, "Er, James? Are you all right?"

"Go away, Al," James said from inside, and when Al tried entering further, Rose heard him say with a lot more force, "Piss off, Al!"

Al backed out of the room and said, "He doesn't want me to see him, I think he's crying. You try."

Rose sighed and walked into James's room, feigning confidence, as Al slipped out of the doorframe. "Don't try to scare me off, James, I'm not going anywhere." Rose realized she had never spent much time at all in her elder cousin's room, mostly because he had barred it from little cousins for most of his life, especially girls until he was around ten or eleven. The room was a little more darkly lit than she'd expected, though the unkempt nature of the whole place didn't surprise her at all. Joke shop products and Gryffindor colors were everywhere, with an excessive amount of Quidditch and Weird Sisters posters lining the walls, and he'd shoved his desk up in a corner under the window. He was currently sitting on his bed, glaring at the floor, with clear traces of tears on his face that he had furiously tried to wipe away, probably when Al had come in the first time.

"Come on, Rosie, I don't want you to see me like this," he muttered, and Rose rolled her eyes. _Boys_.

"Honestly, James, it's not like I haven't seen you cry. And you need to talk to _someone_."

He stayed silent for a moment before saying, "He doesn't get it. I just want to know what happened, I don't want to be treated like a kid. I mean, I know it was hard for him and he fought in a terrible war and he lost his parents and all this awful stuff, but it's hard to remember that when he's this famous war hero Auror with this perfect life and I've got this legacy I'm somehow supposed to fulfill in a peaceful time and— how the hell am I supposed to be grateful for that? And if I have to live with the name, why can't I know the whole story?"

Rose blinked. She hadn't really expected James to confide in her but she knew if she acted surprised he would never do it again, so she waited a bit before responding carefully. "He's just trying to protect you. It's maddening but it's true. And the thing is, did you see how scared they all were?" James looked up, surprised, and Rose continued. "I mean, the second we said Nott was looking for it—I don't think we really are in a peaceful time, James. Lots of people think there's going to be a war."

"And we're going to be forced right into the middle of it," he said quietly. "Does he ever think about the fact that he also gave us that?"

"I'm sure he does, all the time," Rose said, "and I'm sure my parents do too. But right now he's trying to do what he can to stop it from ever happening. And I'm sure if a war does happen, they'll tell us everything we need to know."

"I wish I could just trust them like you do," he muttered. Rose hesitated.

"I'm not sure I do," she said, and he raised an eyebrow. "Well, more than you do, I bet… I try to. I know they think they're doing what's best."

"I wish I was normal," he said, and it was almost a whisper, as if he was incredibly ashamed of it. "Sometimes I wish I was a Muggle or something. It'd be easier."

"You don't really mean that," Rose said, and James nodded slowly.

"No, I don't, but it's terrifying being who I am." He stood up and coughed self-consciously. "I should probably apologize to Al. Don't tell him any of this, by the way. He thinks I handle things well."

Rose smirked and looked outside the door, where Al was sitting at the end of the hall. "He's down there. Go talk to him. I'll see you later."

James smiled a little and said, "Bye, Rosie…thanks." Rose ran up the next flight of stairs to her room and closed the door after her. She looked out her window and saw Uncle Harry pacing in the garden, and hoped she had been right about their parents' best intentions. She didn't know what she would do if she was wrong.


	4. The Ministerial Educational Task Force

**Hi everyone! Sorry it's been a while; anyway, here's the next chapter, I hope you like it! -Kelly**

CHAPTER FOUR

THE MINISTERIAL EDUCATIONAL TASK FORCE

When the Hogwarts Express pulled into the station at Hogsmeade, the first thing Rose noticed was that standing on the platform along with Hagrid were at least three or four other people, smiling up at the students expectantly. Rose turned to the compartment behind her and said, "Guys, look." Al, Scorpius, Emma and Roxanne got up and looked out the window, and Al glanced at her questioningly.

"What's going on?" he asked. "Do you recognize anyone?" Rose shook her head as suddenly, the train doors opened and one of the people walked on board. They quickly rushed to the door of the compartment and they could see nearly everyone else doing the same. The person, who Rose could now see was a younger woman wearing Ministry robes and carrying a long roll of parchment, stood at the end of the aisle of their car and beamed at them.

"Good evening, everyone!" she said. "We're going to get you all off the train now and into your pre-arranged carriages. We're going to exit the first years before everyone else, and assign you your boats that Professor Hagrid and one of our members will escort you to the castle on. Now, there's no need to be alarmed, I've been assured that the boats are perfectly safe." The woman unrolled the long scroll and began to read off first year names. Lorcan and Lysander passed their compartment, walking forward quickly and staring at the woman in a mixture of interest and annoyance. Once the woman, who still had not introduced herself, finished reading all the first years' names off in four person groups, she looked up and smiled at the faces of the older years peering out of the compartments at her. "Okay, then. Second year." It had been nearly twenty minutes since the train had stopped when she finally got everyone off of the train, and Rose was soon moved on to a carriage without any explanation, and looked around at her carriage, which consisted of Al, Min, Scorpius, Lexa, and and a Hufflepuff girl Rose didn't recognize.

"This is ridiculous," Lexa said. "Why does it have to be alphabetical? Of all the unnecessary things that could have been done, this is the stupidest."

"Incredibly, I agree with you," Rose muttered. Scorpius looked very uncomfortable for the entire carriage ride and Al tried unsuccessfully to talk to the Hufflepuff, apparently named Jane, to fill the silence. It didn't work, however, and Rose found herself and Min glancing ahead of them at the carriage holding Roxanne and Grace, attempting to get their attention without success. They finally reached Hogwarts and entered the Hall as quickly as they could. As they sat down at the Gryffindor table, Rose saw James and Harry talking about the whole thing quite loudly a few seats away from them.

"It's ridiculous! We had to ride in with three Slytherins. No one said a word the whole way there. There's no point to this," Harry was saying, and Rose agreed.

"Honestly, how is that even any more efficient?" she asked them and Min shrugged.

"It isn't. I bet the first years got here a long time ago," she said.

"Yeah, they're already coming in," Al said, and Rose turned to watch the first years coming into the hall. Professor McGonagall got up from the staff table and stood in front of the group of scared-looking first years.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," she said, smiling, and Rose saw Collin Dursley at the back, jumping a little in excitement. Hugo waved at him from Rose's left and he waved back enthusiastically. McGonagall gave her usual explanation of sorting, and unrolled the first years' names. "Collins, Arya." A short little girl with long dark hair ran up to the Hat and looked nervous as she sat down. Rose suspected she was a Muggleborn from the way she was staring at the enchanted ceiling. After a minute or so, the Hat called out, "Gryffindor!" The girl glanced at the Gryffindor table as they cheered and ran for the nearest empty seat, smiling nervously at the people around her, and McGonagall continued, "Dursley, Collin." Collin ran up to the Hat and sat down in anticipation, grinning, and seemed shocked when the Hat only took about five seconds to call out, "Hufflepuff!" Hugo glanced at Rose in surprise and Rose watched Collin walk down to the Hufflepuff table, looking over at the Gryffindor table, probably trying to find Emma or Hugo. As McGonagall continued, Hugo turned to Rose.

"I feel bad, we don't even know anyone in Hufflepuff," he whispered, and Rose shrugged.

"He'll find friends," she said. "And anyway, you can still be friends. I mean, you still do things with Lily, don't you?"

"Yeah, I guess," he muttered, and several more first years were sorted before "Longbottom, Charlie" went up and was also put in Hufflepuff. The youngest Longbottom walked quickly to the Hufflepuff table, looking very embarrassed at Harry, Alice, and Ariana cheering loudly from the Gryffindor side. Soon after, McGonagall called out, "Scamander, Lorcan." Lorcan walked up to the Hat, sat down, and was put in Ravenclaw pretty quickly, as was his twin after him. Finally, "Weasley, Louis" was put in Hufflepuff and "Wells, Oliver," was put in Gryffindor. They waited for the feast to start, but no food appeared at their plates, and soon Rose noticed that the people who had been at the train station were entering the Hall. They had now been joined by an older man, and Rose noticed with the contrast how young the others were. They all looked to be, at the oldest, in their late 20s, and the youngest hardly looked older than the seventh years. McGonagall looked over at the entering group and Rose seemed to notice a hint of dislike in her features. The group paused at the edge of the staff table, but the older man walked directly up to the podium where McGonagall was standing, seeming to surprise her a little. McGonagall turned out to the crowd of confused students and said, with a bit of hesitation, "On behalf of Hogwarts School I would like to welcome Mr. Iain Prince, our new Potions master—"

"Thank you, Minerva," Prince said, and McGonagall raised an eyebrow as he stepped in front of the podium. Rose noticed that Prince also wore Ministry robes, though his were a dark purple with a silver M instead of the standard navy blue. She realized that this meant he was in the Wizengamot as Prince began to speak. "Hello, everyone, my name is Professor Prince, and I will be your new Potions teacher, as well as holding a new position at Hogwarts." He turned to the group of Ministry workers that still stood near the end of the staff table and smiled. "I am the Head of the brand new Ministerial Educational Task Force, which was established this past July to help your educational career be even more successful and safe than before." He looked out at the silent crowd and cleared his throat nervously. "Ah, my Junior Officers and I will be around any time to ask questions or report any… illicit activities that may occur. We encourage you to do this for the betterment of your school community." The first years looked a little alarmed when he said 'illicit activities', though Rose thought she spotted Lucy and James making disgusted faces at each other across the aisle. "Additionally, there will be a Junior Officer acting as a teacher's assistant in each classroom, with the intention of keeping the curriculum focused and appropriate." Rose glanced at the staff table and saw that several of the teachers looked less than thrilled about this. "Finally, we would like to encourage international magical cooperation, and will be hosting an exchange student program in the second semester." This was the only point of interest to the student body so far, and the Hall erupted in whispers until Prince called out above the noise, "Quiet, please!" The noise died down some but didn't stop altogether and he said, "Information about this program will be given in the first class you attend tomorrow morning. That's all of our announcements at this moment, and if any of you have any questions, feel free to stop by my office tonight after the feast." The plates of food finally appeared on the tables, and Prince attempted to say something but the noise had ballooned back up so that no one could hear him and he gave up quickly.

"Did you see his robes?" Al asked. "He's a bit high-ranking to be teaching at Hogwarts, don't you think?"

"He's not teaching," Rose muttered. "No one will be teaching with Ministry spies in every classroom all year round."

"They look like they've barely graduated, how could they be spies?" Scorpius asked.

Rose shrugged. "Maybe they didn't particularly like the time we accidentally let an ancient Dark wizard society into the castle. Or the fact that their teacher was a snake. Or first years attacking Muggleborns."

"I mean, yeah, it kind of is your fault, guys," Min pointed out, and Al rolled his eyes.

"Brilliant," he groaned. "Just brilliant."

"I'm not sure that's the real reason, though," Rose said. "I think this might be about the ICW."

"You think this is about the Modernists?" Scorpius asked.

"I think so," Rose said. "I mean, you heard what he said. 'Illicit activities'. They're not just here to monitor the classes. They're trying to control the students. That's probably why he's on the Wizengamot, too. I mean, if you get caught by someone on the jury—"

"Oh, lovely," Scorpius muttered.

"James and Lucy said they have a plan, though, right?" Al asked.

"Yeah," Rose said, "though it'd be nice if they'd tell someone what it was." As they ate, Rose saw Lucy get up at go over to where James sat, and talk to him quickly. They both looked serious, and she went back to sit down with Ava and Stephanie looking even more annoyed than she did before, and a bit angry as well. At the end of the feast, James went to lead the first years to Gryffindor tower, but Lucy hurried over to where they were sitting.

"Come with me," she said quickly, and Rose glanced at Scorpius, surprised.

"Er, okay, where?" she asked as she stood up and Lucy looked impatient.

"I'll tell you on the way," she said. "Come on, he's already gone.""Who?" Rose protested as they left the Great Hall quickly, pushing through the throngs of students and walking towards the dungeons. "Oh. Prince?"

"He said if you had questions…" Lucy muttered.

Rose chuckled but said, "Try not to get us detention on the first night."

Lucy shrugged. "Whatever. I'm assuming you've figured out what this means?"

"That the Ministry wants to control us? Yeah, why?"

Lucy shook her head. "No. Well, yes but no. It means they think we've got a big enough influence to be a threat worth pouring Galleons into a stupid TA program."

"You think that's a good thing?"

"Well, yeah!" Lucy said, grinning. "It means we have a chance."

Rose nodded hesitantly. "Well, yeah, I suppose. But this could be bad for you. Didn't they arrest you a few weeks ago?"

Lucy's smile faded a bit and she rolled her eyes. "Er, yeah. But there wasn't really any law saying they could charge me with anything so they let me go. I was in Diagon Alley, so it wasn't like I was talking to Muggles or anything. My dad was pretty angry though. Went on and on about 'bad publicity' and 'reelections'. Prat. Come on, let's go in." They had reached the new Potions master's office, and were getting odd looks from Slytherins passing by on their way to their dorms.

Lucy knocked and Prince called from inside, "Come in!" Rose was amused that he was sitting at his desk, looking almost excited to have students coming to him when they opened the door. She noticed, though, that his smile faltered a little when he saw who it was. "Er, hello, who are you two?" he asked, and Rose could hardly keep from rolling her eyes. He clearly knew exactly who they were, and was already eyeing Lucy in particular quite nervously.

"Hi," Lucy said bluntly. "I'm Lucy Weasley and this is my cousin Rose. We were wondering if your Task Force has anything to do with the supervisor Mr. Davis and Mr. Clarke said would be monitoring our meetings."

"Meetings of what, exactly, Miss Weasley?" he asked with a strained smile.

"I think you already know that I'm referring to the Modernists, Professor," she said, and Prince nodded hesitantly."Right. Well, Miss Weasley and… Miss Weasley, our protocol is to monitor all studen-run organizations and I believe that means your group is included."

"Yes, I know," she said, "I was asking about your motivation. Were you instructed by Mr. Davis or Mr. Clarke?"

Prince raised an eyebrow. "Miss Weasley, we are here to promote the betterment of the student body and your learning experience as a whole. I can assure you that this is not a political ploy, though we will be supervising student organizations. Does that answer your question?"

"I suppose," Lucy muttered. Prince looked nervous and glanced at Rose, seeming to think he could ease the tension of the situation.

"Er, you are Ms. Granger's daughter, yes?" Rose nodded curtly, glancing over at Lucy, and he seemed to falter a bit before saying, "I've worked with her for the last six years. Tell her I said hello, would you?"

"All right," she said coolly, and Lucy turned to leave. Rose followed her, glad to be out of there before she became too angry to be civil, and Prince seemed quite unsettled by the whole matter.

"I—I'll see you in class tomorrow, then," he called after them, and Lucy nodded slightly before shutting the door a bit too forcefully.

"They've definitely been put up to this," Rose said, and Lucy nodded.

"Well, yeah, of course. I just wanted to let him know we knew that. I can't wait for classes tomorrow," she added sarcastically. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Rose."

"Yeah. Hold on," Rose added as Lucy climbed up the stairs, and ran after her. "You said that you and James had a plan?"

"Oh! Yeah!" Lucy said, the same mischievous gleam in her eye that made Rose both excited and a little wary. "Meet us after dinner in the entrance hall; we're going to wait until the first day's over before we decide for sure that we need it."

"Need what?" Rose asked.

Lucy sighed. "I'm not supposed to tell you yet," she said, "but James wants you to be a leader so I don't see why…"

"Just tell me, Lucy," Rose sighed. At that moment, one of the junior officers passed them and did a double take in surprise.

"You're not Slytherins," he said, confused. "Are you lost or something?"

"No, we're fine," Rose said, feeling a little offended. Did they look like first years? "We were just going back."

"Well, you'd better hurry, it's nearly curfew," he said. Rose frowned and looked at a nearby clock.

"No, it isn't, it's only 9:25," she said.

"Yes, I know, curfew is 9:30 now. The prefects should have told everyone that after dinner," he said.

"We went to see Professor Prince," Lucy said, and the officer immediately looked much less suspicious.

"Oh. All right, then. Well, you'd still better go. I suppose I'll see you in classes tomorrow, I'm the Charms assistant."

"Right, thanks," Lucy said quickly and pulled Rose up the rest of the stairs. "9:30? How old do they think we are? Quidditch and study halls don't even end until 9:00. Do they think we can't have one bloody hour of free time?"

"That's exactly what they think," Rose sighed. "I'll see you tomorrow, I suppose."

"Bye, Rose." Lucy hurried off in the direction of Ravenclaw tower, and Rose walked towards Gryffindor, hoping someone was there to tell her the password before she got in trouble from an officer three hours into the year.


	5. First Classes

**Hi everyone! Sorry it's been so long, here's the fifth chapter! Hope you like it, please review! Thanks! -Kelly**

CHAPTER 5

FIRST CLASSES

Rose, Al, and Scorpius entered the Great Hall and saw a smiling Ministry officer standing at the end of the Gryffindor table. "What the…" Al muttered as they walked up to her. The officer smiled when they reached her. "Names?" she asked.

"Potter," Al sighed, and the woman seemed a little startled. "Er… Albus?" she asked. "I know James is the older one, and I think you were the one in the paper a few weeks ago…"

Al glanced back at Rose, looking very irritated. "Yeah. Albus." She handed him a schedule and he went over to sit. Rose stepped up to the woman next and said, "Weasley. Rose," she added, when she saw the woman looking with alarm at the sizable amount of 'Weasley' schedules. She got her schedule too and followed Al, who was now sitting with Min and Roxanne.

SCHEDULE: WEASLEY, ROSE; YEAR 4; GRYFFINDOR

MONDAY, WEDNESDAY: 10:00-Defense Against the Dark Arts; 11:00-History of Magic; 1:00-Transfiguration; 2:00-Study of Ancient Runes; 3:00-Muggle Studies; 4:00-Potions

TUESDAY: 10:00-Arithmancy; 11:00-Herbology; 1:00-Double Potions; 3:00-History of Magic; 4:00-Charms

THURSDAY: 10:00-Herbology; 11:00-Arithmancy; 1:00-Study of Ancient Runes; 2:00-Double Transfiguration; 4:00-Charms

FRIDAY: 10:00-Muggle Studies; 11:00-Defense Against the Dark Arts; 1:00-Arithmancy; 2:00-Potions; 3:00-Charms; 4:00-Herbology

"So we have Prince today," Scorpius said. "That's good, I guess. We'll at least know what we're in for."

"We'll know what we're in for the moment we walk into Defense," Rose said. "They've got people in every class, remember?"

"Yeah, this is going to be fantastic," Al said, rolling his eyes.

When they got to Defense Against the Dark Arts, Rose immediately noticed the slightly smaller desk next to Professor Rudomin's on the platform at the front of the classroom. She took her usual seat near the front with Scorpius and about a minute later, Rudomin walked in along with a Junior officer at his heels. Rose was surprised to see that she wasn't exactly what she had expected; she didn't look overly happy like the others, and she wore the Ministry robes carelessly, to the point where Rose thought it may have been intentional that her hijab covered the Ministry insignia on the lapel. She sat down at the desk near Rudomin's as the professor reached the front of the room.

"Good morning," he said. "Welcome back. You've probably noticed our visitor—would you like to introduce herself?" Rose drew a bit of hope from the fact that Rudomin didn't seem that hostile towards the woman as she stood up.

"Hey," she said, smiling a little, and the class seemed to collectively relax. "I'm Leah Shafiq, I'll be the assistant for Defense Against the Dark Arts… I graduated from Hogwarts in 2017 and I transferred into Education from the Auror department so I do know what I'm talking about here. Anyone have questions?"

Rose raised her hand and said, "Professor Prince said you were going to tell us about the foreign exchange program today."

"Oh, yeah, sure," Leah said. "So the Ministry wants you all to be more aware of other cultures, and we're going to host a student in each year from a different Wizarding school throughout the world after the Christmas break. Also, each of the years at Hogwarts will send one student to the school that their guest is from. The fourth years' school is Salem Magical Institute in the United States." Rose looked over at Scorpius in surprise. She hardly knew anything about Salem—she had known it existed but not much else. Hogwarts had relatively frequent relations with Beauxbatons, but the other schools had spotty correspondence with them at best. "So basically, you don't really need to worry about that until November or December when you start applying to go. Prince asked me to tell all of you that you should research the school, though, to know for sure whether you want to apply. But anyway, enough about the Ministry stuff. Professor?"

"Right, thank you, Leah," Rudomin said. "Anyway, let's get started. You're at the beginning of fourth year, which is really when we start to teach legitimate counter spells to curses and educating you about the makeup of dark magic, in the interest of helping you protect yourself now that you're closer to being of-age witches and wizards. This year will be a more practical class…" Rudomin paused as excited whispering broke out in the classroom and he smiled a little. "Calm down, calm down, we aren't going to be doing anything yet. Theory needs to come first or more than one of you will end up in the hospital wing missing your first day. But I'm sure that Leah and I will be teaching you plenty of defensive magic throughout the year. Now, turn to page three in your textbooks and we'll begin with the origin of curses."

The excited energy of the class didn't die down even reading the book for most of the first class, and when they reached History of Magic Rose had almost started to think that the Ministry control on the school wasn't as bad as she had feared. However, as soon as they walked into the classroom the students immediately noticed that something was wrong.

"Where's Professor Binns?" Al asked, confused. The rest of the Gryffindors and Slytherins seemed to be asking the same question and after a few minutes a Ministry assistant, slightly older than the others, ran in looking alarmed.

"Could you all quiet down please?" he asked, and they grudgingly sat down, though the noise didn't completely die out by any means. "My name is Everett Yates, I'll be your History of Magic professor." Another eruption of noise responded to this and Yates tried frantically to silence them again. "If you have questions, you may ask them one at a time—"

"Where's Professor Binns?" Dylan shouted out.

"Er, if you could raise your hand, please—what's your name?"

"Dylan Finnigan-Thomas, where's Professor Binns?" he said, looking even more annoyed than before.

"Well, Dylan, Professor Binns has been teaching for a very long time and it seems he's gotten a bit behind on the current curriculum recently, most likely because of his age—"

"His age? He's a bloody _ghost!_ "

"Well, yes, we mean that he's been in the position for over 100 years now and we thought it was time to provide a fresh perspective."

"You mean you?" a Slytherin girl asked, and Yates nodded.

"Yes. The curriculum will take a bit of adjusting, I understand that for the past… three years you've been being taught about the ancient wars?" They nodded and Yates shook his head. "This is exactly why we've changed things. From now on, this year we will be focusing on modern wizarding history, specifically the last 100 years. This will include the Grindelwald occupation, the anti-Statute of Secrecy insurgency of the 1950s—" Rose swore that she noticed his eyes flicker to her in the back of the room as he said this, "—and the First and Second Wizarding Wars." Another quick glance towards Al, and Yates turned to the board. "So—to begin, we will discuss the composition of the wizarding government of 1920."

 _This can't be happening_ , Scorpius thought, and Rose rolled her eyes as she stared at Yates wrote down the notes.

 _I know. How did they get Binns to agree to it? I didn't even know for sure that he was able to leave his classroom,_ she replied, and saw Scorpius nod.

 _Please kill me. Are they really going to talk about our parents with us in the room?_ Al asked.

 _Probably. Although they'll somehow make it about the Ministry,_ Scorpius thought, and he sounded a bit more than bitter. Rose slumped down in her chair and fought the urge to stop listening to Yates. It was still a class, after all; not that she took any notes through the whole class.

Transfiguration went probably as well as could have been hoped, with McGonagall becoming increasingly more irritated with every interruption from the Junior officer, a short stocky young man named Williams, and eventually responding with sarcastic comments occasionally. The girl in Rose's Ancient Runes class barely spoke, which was honestly a relief, and she was expecting the worst when she walked into Muggle Studies.

There was a guy sitting at the front of the classroom next to Professor Creevey's desk. Rose found where Scorpius and Al had sat and sat down next to them.

"I'm a little worried about this," she said, and Al nodded.

"I think everyone is," he said, and Rose was right; the tension in the room was practically palpable. When Professor Creevey walked into the room, Rose saw her glance awkwardly at the officer.

"Hello, everyone, welcome back," she said, smiling. "Er, our new assistant is—"

"Junior Officer Spencer Travers," he interrupted, smiling a little, and Rose glanced over at Scorpius and saw his hand clench into a fist under his desk.

 _You okay?_

 _…I'm fine. Just… Lexa's cousin. Total git._

 _Aren't you all cousins?_

 _Oh, shut up._

"Right," Professor Creevey said. "So, anyway, our first lesson today is going to continue the curriculum from last year, and we're going to talk about the physics behind airplanes. Before we begin, I'll pass out the books I've rented from a library in Glasgow on the subject—"

"Excuse me, Professor," Travers said, "I don't understand—are we not using the course textbook? _Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles_ , I believe?"

"Well, that textbook has not been revised since 1978," Professor Creevey said. "I believe that providing the students with Muggle books would be far more suitable."

"That's where we differ," Travers said. "It's Professor Prince's opinion that reading Muggle literature will only confuse the students."

"In what way exactly?" Creevey asked, and she seemed like she was trying to remain polite.

"Well, considering the radical views some of the students have been developing recently—" there was an undeniable shift in the class's attention towards Rose— "we feel it best to retain a wizarding perspective in all classes."

"Including the class about understanding Muggles?" Rose asked incredulously. Travers looked at her coldly.

"The aim of Muggle Studies is not to understand Muggles, but to study them; surely with your reputation for intellect, Miss Weasley, you can gather that from the title?" Rose felt herself going red as Travers continued. "You all are to learn about Muggles as you would study races in Care of Magical Creatures—with an unbiased, purely scientific perspective."

"Did you just call Muggles creatures?" a Hufflepuff boy asked. "Can you not tell the difference between my mother and a flobberworm?"

"That's—not what I meant—" Travers attempted to say, but there were more students protesting at a growing volume until Professor Creevey stood up and called the class to order.

"This is… not Mr. Travers's rule, he's only enforcing it," she said, seeming like it took her a lot of effort to even say that. "So for now, we'll use the approved textbooks."

At the end of the day Rose was angry all throughout dinner, trying to eat as quickly as possible so she could talk to Lucy. If her day had been anything like Rose's, she was sure her cousin would agree that whatever she and James were planning, they needed to do it, or at least do something. Once people started to leave the Hall, Rose stood up and said, "I have to go to the library, I'll see you in the common room."

"It's the first day!" Al exclaimed, and she shrugged and ran out to the entrance hall. She stood there impatiently for a minute or so, and eventually she saw James, Lucy, and Ava leaving the Hall together.

"Lucy!" Rose called out, and Lucy looked up and waved her over. Rose walked quickly over to where the sixth years stood by the door and said, "They're ruining everything, what do you want to do?"

Lucy grinned. "Er, slow down, Rose, I know, but—"

"Lucy," James warned, and Rose saw him glance at one of the Junior officers standing on the other side of the doorway, eyeing them curiously.

"Right," Lucy whispered. "It's—not safe here. Meet us at the Room of Requirement at midnight."

James shook his head. "I don't think it's safe anymore—too many people know about it now. How about the Prefect common room? Ava and I can get us in."

"All right, perfect," Lucy said. "Midnight. Don't be late—we'll lock the door."

"What's happening?" Ava asked and Lucy said, "Er, we'll tell you when we tell Rose. Bye, James; see you tonight, Rose." Lucy and Ava walked away, with Ava still saying, "Tell me _what_ , Lucy?"

"Why are you being so secretive?" Rose asked suspiciously. "What's going on?"

"We have to, Rosie, you'll understand soon. Can't have anyone overhearing us," James said as he walked up the stairs. Rose hurried to catch up to him.

"I don't know how I'll get there tonight, I can't exactly borrow Al's cloak without him noticing," Rose said.

"I'll help you with a Disillusionment charm," James said. "Relax, just stay in the common room late tonight, we'll go when everyone else goes up to bed."

Rose groaned. "Fine. If we get caught I'm blaming you."

James grinned. "You always do. See you tonight."


	6. The Resistance

**Hi everyone! Thanks so much for reading! Please review! -Kelly**

CHAPTER 6

THE RESISTANCE

Rose wasn't quite sure if James was awake up in his room, but she was starting to get nervous that she was going to miss the meeting when it was past 11:30 and James wasn't in the common room. Al had gone to bed a while ago and she was playing chess with Scorpius.

"Are you going out for Quidditch this year?" he asked.

"I don't know. Bishop to E3," she yawned, and the bishop moved, seeming anxious. "I suppose. I didn't like how much time it took up last year, but I guess I dropped my extra class, so maybe."

"I don't know if I am," he said. "I feel like no one wants me to represent Gryffindor. Knight to E3."

"I knew that was a bad move," Rose's bishop muttered as Scorpius's knight sauntered up to him, grinning maliciously.

"Sorry," she whispered to the piece. "I don't think that's true," she added, looking up at Scorpius.

"Of course it is. Some people sort of didn't mind me last year, but I went back to them and because of bloody Rita Skeeter everyone knows," he muttered. "Now I bet everyone thought it was a publicity stunt or something. Or maybe me coming back is them trying to sway the trial. Whatever."

Rose hesitated at his mention of the trial. "Do you know any more about that?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Sometime in October I think. Your mum's been confirmed as the judge, by the way, I don't know if she told you."

"Yeah, she did," she said quietly. "I'm sorry, about the trial, I—"

"I don't care about the trial," he said sharply, and Rose hardly believed him from how stiff he'd become. "Just forget it. King to D2."

"Checkmate," Rose said, trying not to sound too smug, and Scorpius swore as Rose's queen beheaded his king.

"Brilliant. Well, I'm off to bed. You should go, too, Weasley, it's getting late."

"Yeah," Rose said. "Are you sure you're okay?"

He softened a little and sighed. "I'm fine, Rose, don't worry about me." He stood up and Rose hesitated—she wasn't sure if saying any more would give away any feelings…

"I do anyway, you know," she blurted out, and immediately felt stupid. He smiled a little and walked up the boys' stairs and out of sight. Rose checked the clock again. It was forty minutes past now, and she packed up the chess set and moved to one of the sofas, sitting down in front of the fire and watching the staircases closely. At a quarter to midnight, James descended the stairs and Rose shot up from the sofa. "Where've you been?" she demanded.

"Er, avoiding hanging out with you and Malfoy. I would've thought you'd appreciate the privacy."

"Oh, shut up," Rose snapped, though she knew her ears were going red. "It's not—"

"Like that," James finished. "So you've mentioned. Come here."

Rose walked, still a little indignant, over to where James stood. He tapped his wand to the top of her head and muttered something, and Rose felt a cold chill wash over her body. When she felt it reach her toes, she looked at James. "Did it work?"

"Well, seeing as I can't see you…" James said, and did the same to himself. Rose watched as he faded out of sight, then said, "Let's go, then." Rose followed him out of the portrait hole and down to the third floor, where he stopped in front of the same wall she'd come to with Molly last year. He tapped the same pattern and the wall opened up to reveal the prefect common room, where Aidan and Stephanie sat.

"Who is it?" Aidan asked, and James took out his wand and tapped Rose's head again. He sighed in relief and brightened at this. "Oh! Hi, Rose! It's lovely to see you again!"

"Hi, Aidan," she said, smiling; it was good to see him again, too, though she was suddenly glad that Scorpius hadn't been invited. "How was your summer?"

"Oh, good, I was with Stephanie and Jared's family, we went camping around Devon. I knew that was right by you, I would've written you but I wasn't sure if you were home—"

"Oh, that's okay, I was in France anyway," she shrugged. James had sat down on the sofa opposite Stephanie and Aidan, and Rose did the same. "Do you guys know when Lucy and Ava are getting here?"

"Er, I think they were leaving not long after us, so they should be here soon."

After another minute or so, the wall opened again and seemingly no one entered, until Lucy and Ava undid their charms. "Hi, guys," Lucy said, sitting down in one of the chairs nearby the two sofas. "So, I'm assuming if you're here then your classes were just as awful as ours."

"You wouldn't believe Muggle Studies," Rose muttered.

"Who's the Muggle Studies officer?" James asked.

"Travers?" Rose said. "I don't know. Scorpius said he's Lexa Rae's cousin."

James rolled his eyes. "Who in their right mind thought that guy should be in Muggle Studies?"

"Someone who wanted a Death Eater's son to teach people about Muggles," Lucy said.

"Death Eater's son?" Aidan asked, suddenly anxious.

"Yeah," Lucy said. "One of the ones who hasn't been arrested."

"Well, did he actually do anything?" Ava asked. "I mean, he's a Death Eater's son, but so's Scorpius…"

"He sort of compared the class to Care of Magical Creatures," Rose said.

"Okay, never mind," Ava said quietly.

"Anyway, what's your plan?" Rose asked.

"Yeah, could you please tell us?" Ava added.

Lucy glanced at James and then at the others, smiling a little. "All right. We're starting a Hogwarts resistance."

Rose blinked. "What?"

"Well, they aren't going to let us have the Modernists in any capacity close to how it was," she said. "And we were teaching self-defense to the younger years, and Merlin knows that won't be happening anymore."

"After what we saw today, I think we'd also need to teach the real versions of History of Magic and Muggle Studies," Aidan added. Lucy nodded and continued.

"You're right. Point is, we need to keep doing what we've been doing no matter what they say. And also try to tell people that they've convinced the truth about what they're doing."

"Also, good old-fashioned messing with them may be in order," James said. "There'll definitely be some of that too."

"Sure, James," Lucy laughed, and as soon as she said it, they heard footsteps coming. The room fell into silence and Rose and the others hid behind one of the sofas. They began to hear voices accompanying the footsteps and Rose listened closely.

"This is not going as planned," a voice said, unmistakably Prince's. "The students are already against us."

"Do you think she has anything to do with it?" another voice said, one that Rose didn't think she'd heard before.

"No, I don't think so," Prince said. "Unfortunately, the students have come to their own conclusions about us. They're far from pleasant."

"Well, they don't need to like us, do they?" the other voice asked. "We aren't here for that."

"We're here in their interest," Prince replied, "it would be preferable if they felt like they could trust us. They need to if we're ever going to shift the popular opinion."

"Is it really the popular opinion here, Iain?" the voice asked.

"I'm not sure," he said. "It might be. At the very least, there is a large pro-Muggle bias at Hogwarts that needs to be dealt with. Our programs will help with that, though."

"And what about the Modernists?" the other voice asked, and Rose saw Lucy stiffen next to her. Rose listened even more intently as the voices grew closer to the wall. "We can't allow them to continue."

"We won't, at least not truly," Prince said. "We'll be receiving instructions from Everett about how to handle that situation soon."

"All right, then. Let's keep moving, this hallway is clear." The footsteps grew fainter and fainter, and the voices didn't speak again. When it had been a while since they had heard anything, Rose stood up and looked nervously at the wall one more time before moving out from behind the sofa, the others doing the same.

"Well, I was right about the Modernists," Lucy muttered.

"Who's 'Everett'?" James asked.

"Yates? The History of Magic professor?" Ava suggested.

Rose shook her head. "More likely it's Everett Davis. The ICW representative."

"You're probably right. Especially if he's dictating what we can say at Modernist meetings," Lucy said.

"Everett's such a snobby posh name," James commented under his breath. "I mean, have you ever met someone named Everett who wasn't a prat? I haven't."

"Anyway, we should probably go back now. We'll start spreading the word; we're going to meet with anyone who wants to join on Saturday at noon, okay? Tell anyone who wants to come and make sure they don't tell anyone. Maybe Stephanie can get Jared to talk to younger kids?"

"Jared'll want someone to help him, he won't do it unless he thinks it'll catch on," Stephanie sighed.

"Well, I can come talk to him with you," James offered. "Lily can help him, and he likes me anyway."

"Liked you, he _liked_ you," Stephanie snapped. "Then he found out that you're a lying cheater and now he wants to hex you into next week."

An uncomfortable silence stifled the room before James said, "I didn't know that was going to happen, Steph—"

"Oh, so someone Imperiused you into kissing Alice?"

"Well, no, but—"

"Forget it, James, I've agreed to work with you on this, but we aren't friends, understood?"

"Yeah, whatever," James muttered, and Stephanie rolled her eyes.

"Come on, Aidan," she said, and the two of them left quickly after casting Disillusionment Charms.

"Er, I'll get Hugo to talk to Jared," Rose suggested. "He knows some first years, too, so…"

"Great," Lucy said. "We'll see you guys around, then, I guess." She and Ava left for Ravenclaw Tower then and Rose and James followed them out soon after that.


	7. The Malfoy Family

**Hi all! Thanks so much for reading! Please review, I really appreciate it! Enjoy! -Kelly**

CHAPTER SEVEN

THE MALFOY FAMILY

That Saturday morning, Rose came down to breakfast to find owl post waiting for her.

"I think it's from Mum," Hugo said from his seat between Roxanne and Al. "It's from the Burrow, at least. It's addressed to you, though, so I didn't look."

Rose sat down and opened it, reading the letter as Scorpius came in and sat down next to her.

6-9-2020

Dear Rose,

Hey, this is Teddy. I've been hearing about what's happening at Hogwarts, and I thought they might be looking through Lucy's mail so I'm writing to you first. You can't trust most of those Junior Officers. A lot of them were in my class. Almost all Slytherins, and definitely all biased towards the Ministry. The only one that might not be against you is Leah Shafiq—she was in Auror training a year behind me, and I know Harry liked her. She dropped out, though, which is something hardly anyone does, so I don't know what that could mean. Anyway, Iain Prince is an insult to the kind of reformed Ministry we're supposed to have now. He takes bribes and he's bigoted but will deny it at any cost; at least most of the posh pureblood types admit they're prejudiced. I've been watching him since I found out he was the MET leader, and he'd been having meetings with the Department of International Magical Cooperation for weeks before term started. I just thought I should warn you now, and Lucy—don't underestimate them. I'm not positive they'll see reason anytime soon. Don't show this to anyone other than you guys, and if you send an owl back, use a school owl, not Musetta. Oh, and send it to Vic and me at Grimmauld Place—not sure Harry would like me telling you this. Be careful, all of you.

Teddy

"Not Mum," Rose said grimly, and showed Scorpius. His expression grew darker as he read.

"Yep. Brilliant," he said sarcastically, and passed it over to Al. Hugo read over Al's shoulder and both of them looked nervous.

"Are you lot still having your meeting tonight?" Roxanne asked. "I wanna come. Fred might, too, actually; I think I heard James talking to him."

"Yeah," Rose said, "Room of Requirement, noon."

Suddenly, a Hogsmeade Owl Post owl flew in with Rose's Daily Prophet. She picked it up and saw in the corner of the front page:

MALFOY TRIAL DATE SET

She quickly flipped to the page it indicated and read.

 _The trial for Lucius Malfoy, charged with war crimes during the Second Wizarding War, has been set for November 3, with Department of Magical Law Enforcement Head Hermione Granger as judge. The rumors abound that there are a large number of witnesses gathered against Mr. Malfoy, including his own son, Draco Malfoy. None of these rumors have yet been confirmed, though there have been claims surfacing that there will be still more charges brought against him._

"Did you know this?" Rose asked Scorpius, and he peeked over her shoulder.

He shrugged. "No."

"Is that Maximillian?" Al asked, and Rose looked up to see Scorpius's owl flying into the Great Hall. It dropped a letter in his lap and he opened it, hesitating.

"What is it?" Rose asked, seeing the surprised and wary look on his face.

"It's from my dad's office," he said, and started to read it. His face became blank as he read it, and stood up abruptly. "I'll see you at the meeting," he told the table, and then he left the table and walked very quickly out of the Great Hall. Al looked at Rose, surprised.

"What's wrong with him?" he asked. Rose shrugged.

"I'll go see," she offered, and took her bag and Teddy's letter with her as she ran out of the Great Hall. Scorpius was nowhere to be found and Rose checked the outside and Gryffindor Tower before she found him in the library. "What was that?" she asked him, and he jumped a little as he looked up from the same letter. When he saw it was her, he quickly looked back down at his hands. He was sitting in a table in the corner near the window, and looked very much like the last thing he wanted was to be interrupted, but she sat down anyway.

He sighed. "I'm fine, Weasley."

"No you're not, if you were fine, you would have stayed at breakfast. What did that letter say?" she asked, and he handed it to her.

6-9-2020

Scorpius,

I know that we've discussed your grandfather's trial before, and I know that you've told me you want no part in it. However, Mr. Barclay feels that it would be beneficial to the case if you were to offer a testimonial. Since he's avoided these exact charges before, there's a chance that he'll be acquitted if no other charges are brought. Because of this, Mr. Barclay is bringing in other people to testify against him in a number of other things, such as bribery and, if you'll agree, child abuse.

I won't force you to do this, but if you did, Mr. Barclay said it may greatly increase his remaining sentence if he's acquitted of the war crimes charges. If you want him out of our lives, this would be your chance. You would only have to come to the trial and answer questions after taking a dose of Veritaserum. I'll need your decision by next week. I'm sorry, I know this is sudden. I'll be bringing child abuse charges as well if Mr. Barclay determines there's no statute of limitations that prevents it in my case. Your mother sends her love.

Dad

"Hey, son, stand up there and tell people everything he's done to you while he stares right at you, thanks, Dad," Scorpius muttered. "He couldn't have talked to me in person about this?"

"Maybe he just found out?" Rose suggested, but Scorpius shook his head.

"I'm sure he's known. He's just a coward."

"Are you going to do it?" Rose asked, and Scorpius shrugged."I don't—I mean, I think that I should. But… I don't know if I can," he said.

"You'll take Veritaserum, it'll be easy, once you start talking you won't be able to stop," Rose said, but he shook his head.

"I know I could say all of it, but… people will treat me differently once they know everything about my childhood, it's not pretty, Weasley."

"I'll come with you," Rose said. He looked up at her again.

"You will?" he asked.

"Of course I will," she said. He hesitated.

"I'm not sure I want you to know either."

"I'm not going to care," she said. "I just don't want the only people in the room to be you and your grandfather and a bunch of Ministry people."

"Oh, and your mother, remember?" he said, chuckling a little. "This'll be fun."

"Definitely." She smiled and after a pause he seemed to almost smile back.

"Once people start finding out about the new trial news, they'll all be talking about it," Scorpius said. "Can we just stay here until the meeting?"

"Yeah, sure." She paused for a minute. "Is there really enough to bring charges like that?"

Scorpius looked at her, suddenly very guarded. "Probably," he muttered, looking down quietly.

"Well—why didn't you tell anyone?" Rose asked, and he rolled his eyes and smiled bitterly.

"Oh, yeah, like he'd leave me alone long enough to do that. Besides, I started fighting it by the time I was 10, and younger than that who's going to believe me, especially about someone as powerful as him?"

"Fighting—?" Rose asked, and he nodded.

"Yeah, my mum taught me some spells with her wand. Taught me how to fight. She used to be master dueler, you know. And enough Malfoys have been homeschooled that the Manor's a certified exempt area from the Trace, so no one noticed."

"That's how you beat Dylan the first night in the dormitories," Rose said, finally realizing.

"Yeah. Lucius stopped trying to punish me for the most part when I jinxed him for it every time." He paused. "Er, don't tell your mum any of that."

"…What did he do to you?" Rose asked hesitantly. She wasn't sure she wanted to know, and was almost relieved when he shook his head a little.

"Well, I suppose you'll find out," he muttered, and looked down. Rose understood then that the conversation was over. Scorpius took a book out of his bag and began to read quietly, and Rose set her Runes work in front of her, at first fully intending to do it, but after a while really only pretended to study and looked up at Scorpius as often as she dared. She had started to notice more about him than she ever had before, and one of the things she noticed was that the mask of confidence he always wore disappeared when he was concentrating on something. Rose often got caught up in watching him when he was like this. She always was wary when she did, though, ready to quickly look away if he noticed. The only time he looked up while she was looking at him was almost an hour later.

He seemed a little puzzled as he said, "Er, I think it's time to go."

"Oh, right," she said. "Sorry, I was… thinking."

"Come on, then," he said, and she followed him out of the library and they walked up to the third floor. When they were almost there, Rose saw Dylan and Declan Finnigan-Thomas walking down the staircase in front of them. Dylan saw them first and his face changed into a scowl, and as they walked past them in the hall Dylan pointedly knocked into Scorpius. Scorpius stopped in his tracks as they kept walking away as if nothing had happened, though Rose thought she saw Declan glance back at them nervously.

"You go on, I'm not going," Scorpius said quietly.

"What? Why? If it's about that, you can't let Dylan push you around," Rose protested.

"It's not just that, no one wants me there," he said, a little louder. "The only reason everyone tolerated me last year is because I left, but I went back and everything's the same again. Maybe worse."

"I don't think that's true," Rose said, but Scorpius shook his head.

"Maybe next time, Weasley. I'll see you," he said. He walked away and Rose, not wanting to argue, didn't protest and kept walking.


	8. The Army's First Meeting

**Hi everyone! Thanks for reading, I'll update as soon as I can! Enjoy and please review! -Kelly**

CHAPTER EIGHT

THE ARMY'S FIRST MEETING

Rose walked the rest of the way down the corridor to the Room, and paced thinking the same phrase they'd all agreed on. _I need a place to meet with friends that no one else will find._

The door appeared, and she walked through it to see somewhere around fifteen or twenty students sitting inside. Lucy, James, Stephanie and Aidan were sitting at the front, and they waved her over to the empty chair next to Lucy. Rose sat down and Lucy looked at her. "Hey. I thought Scorpius was coming."

"He couldn't make it," she muttered, and Lucy didn't ask any further questions, to Rose's relief.

"Should we start?" James asked Lucy quietly, and Lucy nodded and stood up.

"Hi everyone!" she called over the noise, and the room quieted down quickly. "So most of you are in the Modernists, so you already know who all of us are… and basically, I'm sure you've noticed they're not exactly going to let us keep going with that."

"So we're just meeting secretly then?" Harry said. "Why couldn't you have just told us that?"

"Not exactly, our priorities have changed," Stephanie said.

"Yeah. It's becoming pretty clear that Hogwarts isn't safe anymore, especially for some of us in this room." Rose saw Al look down a little at the table next to Lily, who had brought Lorcan and Lysander. "We need to start teaching everyone what we know about how to fight. Especially the younger ones."

"You mean people are going to come after us?" Lysander asked.

"Well, yes," Lucy said, and Rose thought that was a little harsh for a first year. "Sorry, I know that sounds scary, but it's true. And out there, a war could start at any minute. I don't know how much your mum's been telling you two, but you'll be better off if you know that now."

"I think Frank said something about that the last time he came over," Lorcan said.

"He probably would, he works for the Ministry, right?" Lucy asked. The twins nodded.

Aidan stood up then. "We also need to be filling the gaps in our education that will start to develop with the changes in History of Magic and Muggle Studies. I expect I could teach a form of Muggle Studies…"

"You can get the other Muggleborns to help you," Lucy said, nodding. "Also, James is going to be in charge of sabotage." James and Harry grinned at that, and Lucy said, "We're going to start with the first self defense class; Harry and Alice are leading this one; all the officers are going to have a meeting. Questions?" There was a silence and Lucy smiled. "Okay, let's go, then." Lucy led Rose along with Stephanie, Aidan and James over to the corner of the room. "So, what do you guys think? We're going to pull this off, right?"

"I think so," Stephanie said, smiling. "Although I'm not sure you're going to get away with your other plan."

"What other plan?" Rose asked.

"You haven't told her?" Stephanie asked, incredulous.

"I was planning to tell her now," Lucy said.

"Tell me what?" Rose asked.

"I'm going to send a series of essays to the Daily Prophet," Lucy said. "If the Ministry won't let me talk, I'll write."

"How do you know the Daily Prophet will publish it?" Rose asked.

"Because I'll be an anonymous source 'close to the Minister'," Lucy said.

"Well… that'd probably work, but…" Rose said, "if they find out…"

"What can they do? Put me in detention?" Lucy snorted. "I'm not doing anything illegal."

"You are if you're protesting the Statute," Aidan said.

"Well, that's ridiculous," Lucy muttered. "If that's a law, I'm happy to break it. That's not all, though, Rose. We need you for this."

"What? Why do you need me?"

"You're a better writer than me," Lucy said. Rose's eyes widened as she realized what Lucy was saying.

"So you want… _me_ … to do the illegal things you just said _you_ were going to do?"

"Well, yeah," Lucy said, sounding a little embarrassed. "Come on, Rose, please? I'll tell you my positions, all you'll have to do is put it more eloquently."

"…Okay," Rose said, and Lucy smiled.

"Great. I don't want to write until there's something specific to write about, though, so I'll let you know when we're going to start that. I think that can be it for today, we can go help Alice and Harry. But we need to get a commitment from members so we know exactly who's involved."

"Like a pact?" James asked.

"Yeah, sort of. We'll have everyone sign it. Rose?" Rose was already expecting to write and took out a roll of parchment from her bag. "You know what, don't bother writing anything on it. We'll just tell everyone that signing it means you're a part of it now and you can't tell anyone from the Ministry. We just need a name."

"Why don't we just call it Dumbledore's Army?" James asked. "I mean, that's basically what this is."

Lucy grinned. "Well, yeah, I guess you're right. But Dumbledore has nothing to do with this."

"He didn't have anything to do with the first one, he was just the Headmaster."

"So McGonagall's Army?" Stephanie suggested.

"Well… who are we doing it for? I mean, what are we trying to do here?"

"The same thing my dad was trying to do then," James said.

"So Potter's Army."

"I like that," James said, smiling.

"Of course you do," Lucy said, scoffing. "It'd be kind of great, though. Since the Daily Prophet and all of them seem to be pretty against him lately. Yeah, let's do it."

"Okay, then. Potter's Army it is," Stephanie said. Rose wrote it in large letters at the top of the parchment, and signed her name underneath it. Lucy signed next, then James, Stephanie, and Aidan. "I guess I'll take this over to the others, then?"

"Hold on," Rose said. She pulled Teddy's letter out of her bag and handed it to Lucy. "I thought you'd want to see this. It was meant for you too anyway." Lucy read it aloud to the rest of the officers and when she was done, she nodded to herself.

"So we're right. He is working for Davis and Clarke," she muttered. "You should keep this, Rose. And take the list of names when everyone's signed it; I expect they'll search my room first if they find out anything."

"Right," Rose said. "Sure."

"Okay, then," Lucy said. "We're done here. Let's go help with the lesson." After the meeting Rose returned to the Tower with Al and found Scorpius sitting alone in a corner, reading.

"Here, sign this," Rose said, handing him the parchment. He opened it and raised an eyebrow.

"You're mental," he sighed as he took Rose's quill and signed his name at the bottom of the list. "Potter's Army? Really?"

"It's better than Dumbledore's Army 2.0," Al said.

"Well, yes, anything would be," Scorpius said.

"True," Rose said, and then said, "Hey, Quidditch tryouts are today. Are you going to come with us?"

"I don't think so," Scorpius said.

"Oh, come on, you're good, really," Al said. "We need you on the team if we're going to beat Ravenclaw this year. I heard Josh Clearwater's been training over the summer and he's even better than before."

"Oh, brilliant," Scorpius muttered, and Rose thought for a second he was talking about Josh before she followed his gaze over to where Dylan and Declan were crossing the room, heading towards their table. Declan kept walking without incident towards the sofa on the other side of the common room, but Dylan whispered something under his breath.

Rose felt anger rising in her when she heard what he'd said: _Traitor._ She didn't react the way Scorpius did, however, as he immediately stood up and stepped in front of the other boy.

"I'd take that back," he said in a low voice, and Rose saw him draw his wand at his side. She glanced at Al, who was watching them with apprehension.

"I'm not scared of you, Malfoy. You're a bloody coward just like your father."

"He may be a coward, but I'm not. Take it back."

Dylan laughed and drew his wand too. "I don't think so."

They both raised their wands and pointed them at each other. If anyone hadn't been watching before, they certainly were now. Rose saw Alice starting to get up when Dylan said, "Expelliarmus!"

"Protego," Scorpius called out, almost simultaneously, and the disarming charm did nothing. "Petrificus totalus!" he added, and before Dylan reacted, he froze and fell over. Alice immediately grabbed Scorpius and undid the charm on Dylan.

"Seriously? Come on," Alice said. "Duelling?"

"You aren't going to get Rudomin, are you?" Scorpius asked.

Alice rolled her eyes. "No. But I'm taking five points from Gryffindor." There were a few complaints from around the room and Alice sighed. "Just… stay away from each other, okay?"

"No problem there," Dylan grunted. "Come on, Declan."

"You're mental," Rose could hear Declan saying as they left the common room. "Honestly, you can't just keep fighting people…"

"Are you okay?" Al asked Scorpius.

"I'm fine," he muttered. "Whatever. Let's go somewhere else."

"Okay…" Rose said, and she and Al went with him out of the portrait hole and down onto the grounds.

"This is what I meant, no one wants me here," he said. Rose would have argued but after what had just happened it seemed stupid now. He wouldn't listen to her if she had said anything.

"Let's go, Quidditch tryouts are going to be soon," Rose said. Scorpius sighed.

"Are you really going to make me go out for the team?"

"Yes," Al said firmly, and Scorpius shrugged and stood up.

"Fine. Let's go." Al was very pleased and walked quickly down to the pitch with Rose and Scorpius following.

"Are you going to reply to Teddy's letter?" he asked her.

"Oh, I don't know, I think so," she said. "Why?"

"Because I need to ask him something. We could save an owl if I come with you, I'll send the letter with yours."

"What are you asking Teddy about?" she asked, surprised. From what she recalled, they'd only met a couple times.

"Nothing important, don't worry about it," he said, and almost looked a little embarrassed. Rose decided to let it go and shrugged.

"All right, then. We'll go up to the Owlery after dinner. Let's go catch up to Al." They quickened their pace and Rose tried to focus on the tryouts, rather than whatever Scorpius was talking to Teddy about. Honestly, she decided, right now she had enough to worry about.


	9. The First Quidditch Match

**Hi everyone! Sorry it's been a while, I'll be updating a lot more frequently now. Thanks for reading and please review! -Kelly**

CHAPTER NINE

THE FIRST QUIDDITCH MATCH

The beginning of October brought with it the first Quidditch match of the year. Rose was excited that she had made the team again, but was a little relieved when the first match was announced to be Hufflepuff vs. Slytherin. The new Gryffindor team had hardly had three weeks to practice, and even though it was mostly the same people as last year, she thought they'd probably do better if they had two more weeks, so she was perfectly happy to sit in the stands for the first match. When the teams entered she was seated between Scorpius and Hugo, with James sitting one bench down, as Al had been invited to sit in the official's box with Alana with much teasing from Lily. "Here they come, Hufflepuff led by Captain Hannah Weber!" Rose cheered along with the other Gryffindors, as the House's general opinion was always to root for 'anyone except Slytherin'. "And Slytherin with Captain Boot." Slytherin cheered and the Gryffindors responded with loud booing, and only minor interjecting from the other Houses. "I'm Alana Jordan, your commentator this morning for the first match of the 747th Hogwarts Quidditch season. I'm here with scorekeeper Min Weasley and joining us today, Gryffindor Seeker Albus Potter. Say hi to the people, Al."

"Er, hi," Rose heard Al say into the microphone after a minimal amount of scuffling.

"Well, at least you're fit," Rose heard Alana mutter as she took the mic back. "Sorry, Professor. Er, Madam Hooch making her way onto the pitch whistle in hand. The Captains shake hands…"

"Honestly, she's fancied Al for two years now? Why hasn't he gone out with her?" James asked.

"He's a little terrified of her," Rose said.

"Yeah, well, he needs to get over that if he's ever going to have a girlfriend," James said. "I'll help."

"Oh, Merlin, I don't even want to know what your idea of help in that area is," Rose said.

James flashed a grin and said, "Maybe not."

The match started and the players rose into the air. Rose, along with her brother and cousin, were engrossed in the game when she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. She spun around and saw Aidan, looking a little paler than normal. "Er, hi, Aidan," Rose said, confused. "Why are you in the Gryffindor section?"

"Do you have that paper? The first essay?" Aidan asked. Rose looked quickly at Hugo, who wasn't paying much attention, and Scorpius, who looked a little annoyed at seeing Aidan.

"Er, yeah, in my bag. Can you please lower your voice?" she added and Aidan nodded.

"Yeah, sorry. You should get rid of it, quickly," he said.

"Why? We were going to send it out after the match," Rose said, a little annoyed. She and Lucy had spent quite a bit of time on the first essay the day before. Though Lucy had said that she was going to wait for the first time the METs did anything drastic, she'd decided a few days ago that they had to start publishing anyway, or people would start thinking that the students are happy with the new system.

"Stephanie said that Prince was looking for us," Aidan said. "He wants us to meet him in his office at noon. I wouldn't be surprised if they searched us."

"Okay," Rose said, already nervous. She checked her watch; it was almost 11:45. "I don't have time to go to Where should I put it?"

"I don't know, just… not in your bag," Aidan said.

"Here, give it to me, they aren't going to search me," Scorpius said. Rose nodded and handed off the roll of parchment to him.

"All right, we should go," Aidan said. Rose nodded and stood up.

"What's going on?" Hugo asked.

"Prince wants us," Rose said, and Hugo looked alarmed.

"You haven't got that list of names, have you?" he asked.

"No, it's in my room," she said, and Hugo sighed in relief.

"All right, then, good luck," he said grimly, and Rose nodded. She followed Aidan, weaving through the stands full of students and down the staircases out of the pitch. Stephanie and Lucy were standing at the bottom of the staircase.

"Well, let's go, then," Lucy said, and they started walking across the grounds back to the castle.

"Is this about the Army?" Rose asked.

"I doubt it," Stephanie said. "James wasn't called."

"So this is about the Modernists," Rose said. "Why?"

"Who knows? I swear he's just making things up as he goes," Lucy muttered. When they reached the castle and walked down into the dungeons, Prince was waiting for them at the entrance to the Potions classrooms.

"Thank you for coming, let's go into my office," he said shortly, and Rose walked in first, followed then by Aidan, Stephanie, and Lucy. There were four chairs lined up on the opposite side of his desk from his chair, and they sat down as Prince walked around to the front of his desk.

"Couldn't we have waited until the match was over?" Rose asked."So, I trust you have been reading the news lately, being, ah, politically conscious students as you are?"

"Yes, we all get the Prophet," Rose said, and Prince nodded.

"So you've seen the headlines, then."

"What headlines?" Aidan asked. Prince looked at him, clearly surprised, and handed them a copy of the Daily Prophet from yesterday. Aidan nodded a little and Rose looked over his shoulder at the paper.

 **PROTESTS AT THE MINISTRY CONTINUE TO GROW**

 _Minister of Magic Percival Weasley made a statement today concerning the growing number of protesters gathering in the lobby of the Ministry's main building. The protesters seem to not have one clear leader but all united against the International Statute of Secrecy. "These radical statements will not be dignified," Minister Weasley remarked as part of his address to the press this morning. "As Minister of Magic I can affirm that the claims made by these people are dangerous and not to be considered by the Ministry." The protesters claim that the acceptance of Muggles into our world is something to be encouraged and actively pursued. Today marks two weeks that the protesters have come to the Ministry for the entirety of business hours six days a week. A statement from the protesters could not be attained at this time._

"So you see the situation at hand," Prince said.

"I see there are protests," Lucy said. "What does this have to do with us?"

Prince coughed nervously and said, "Er, Miss Weasley, some Ministry officials have expressed concern regarding your organization. We feel that it may be best as a peacekeeping precaution—"

"If what?" Lucy asked. "Davis and Clarke said we could continue the Modernists this year."

"Well, that was before the current situation arose. We feel it would be best for the interests of everyone involved if the Modernists were to be discontinued."

"You can't do that, Professor McGonagall has authority over student organizations," Rose said indignantly.

Prince regarded her over his glasses, for the first time looking angry. "Yes. For now. But I'm certain she will agree with me once I present my views."

Rose glared at him as he stood up and crossed over to the door, holding it open for them. "That is all, you may go," he said, and they stood up, looking at each other. "Oh, and one more thing," he added. "If I receive word that any of the students of Hogwarts have participated in any of the protests, or have gone against my wishes in this area in any way, the consequences will be severe."

"How would we be part of the protests? We can't leave the grounds," Lucy said.

"I know that, Miss Weasley, just… something to bear in mind," he said. "Good day. Enjoy the match."

"Come on, let's go," Lucy muttered, and they walked away as Prince closed his door. As soon as they were out of earshot, Lucy said, "He must know. Does he?"

"I think he just knows that we would do something like what we're doing. He doesn't know. And if he did know, he doesn't have proof; if he did, we'd be expelled by now," Rose said.

"Is that supposed to cheer us up?" Stephanie asked.

"We aren't going back to the match, we're going to send out that essay before everyone gets back," Lucy said. "Where is it, Rose?"

"Scorpius has it. Aidan and I thought he'd search us," Rose said. Lucy sighed.

"All right, fine. After the match, then. Meet me in the Owlery."

When Rose returned to her seat, Scorpius pulled out the essay. "Here," he said. "Did they search you? What happened?"

"No. They told us we can't have Modernist meetings anymore."

"Well, that's okay, we don't need them, we've got the Army," Hugo said, a little more loudly than was necessary.

"Well, yes, but we can't just go round saying that," Rose said pointedly, and he rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the game.

"Hufflepuff's winning 50-30," Scorpius informed her, and Rose nodded, watching as a Slytherin Chaser caught the Quaffle and raced down the pitch. She turned to him again, remembering what they'd heard about the trial that morning in the news.

"So… when are you going in for the deposition?" Rose asked.

Scorpius stiffened and said, "The 30th."

"They're making you do it on your birthday?" Rose asked, incredulous.

"It's the only day your mum has free before the trial," he said. Rose nodded and he added, "We're leaving November 2, because it's so early in the morning. McGonagall's arranging an exception to the Floo network rule in her office after dinner that night. My dad's already checked with your parents; you can stay in the manor that night and come with us to the trial. We were going to take you home but your mum said she had work to do and might be in the office all night."

"Oh," Rose said. "right. Okay." She hadn't even been sure he'd still wanted her to come, but she was pleased all the same, especially at the prospect of staying over with Scorpius again. Around twenty minutes later, the Hufflepuff Seeker caught the Snitch and Rose slipped out during the celebration of three of the Houses. She walked up to the castle as quickly as she could and continued straight up to the Owlery. Rose looked around for Lucy, and finding she was alone, went outside and watched the swarm of students file into the castle as she sat on the edge of the balcony. She couldn't help but notice a white-blond head among the crowd walking with a shorter red one, and couldn't help but keep watching until they reached the front doors. In a few minutes, Lucy arrived and frowned at her.

"Bloody hell, you're going to fall to your death. You know, Aidan wonders why you're not in Ravenclaw—this is why."

"Oh, shut up," Rose mumbled, hopping off the balcony edge. She dug the essay out of her bag and handed it to Lucy.

"Do you think we should add the Modernists thing?" Lucy asked.

Rose shook her head. "That would give us away as the authors. The next one, maybe, but not until everyone else knows about it."

"True. All right, then, how are we sending this?"

"School owl, obviously," Rose said.

"Right. You should write a note to go with it, say we're close to the Minister, we're remaining anonymous, etcetera, etcetera," Lucy said, and Rose nodded. She sat down and wrote out a quick message and grabbed an envelope from the stack on a nearby shelf. She paused as she started to write.

"We can't send this to Skeeter, she'll never publish it."

"Well, who runs the editorial page?" Lucy asked. Rose looked at her in disbelief and Lucy realized her mistake. "Ah. The… editor. Right."

"Aunt Ginny," Rose said, nodding. "As of July; just our luck. You think she'll publish it?"

"I don't know," Lucy said. "People might think it _is_ her. 'Close to the Minister' and all."

"Will she figure out it's us?" Rose asked.

"Maybe, but she won't know which of us, and she can't accuse us of anything unless she's sure," Lucy said. "I think it's worth the risk."

Rose hesitated before she nodded. "All right." She addressed the letter.

 _The Daily Prophet, Attn: Ms. Ginevra Potter, Editor_

 _529 Diagon Alley, London, Surrey_

Rose attached the letter to an owl and watched it fly away, feeling a mixture of apprehension and excitement. She exchanged a look with Lucy, and without speaking, they both left and went down to the Great Hall for lunch, Rose trying quite hard to not think about the possible consequences of what they'd just done.


	10. The Trial of Lucius Malfoy

**Hi everyone! Thanks for reading, I'll post as soon as possible! Thanks! -Kelly**

CHAPTER 10

THE TRIAL OF LUCIUS MALFOY

 **EXCLUSIVE FROM AN ANONYMOUS ASSOCIATE OF THE MINISTER**

 ** _(Note: The Daily Prophet neither endorses nor condemns the following notions and this essay has been published unedited without any representation of the Daily Prophet's views.)_**

 _The recent introduction of the Ministerial Educational Taskforce to Hogwarts School has proved much less successful than expected. The lack of organization apparent in the collaborative has created more problems than it has solved. Classes are frequently disrupted and delayed by the Junior Officers present in the room, who follow their instructions from the Ministry without any experience with the current manner of proceedings at the school. The frequent disruption and changes to the curriculum have only further confused the students and have had no positive effects thus far, nor do they seem to be approaching any. There are various drawbacks present in the system, which will be expanded upon in future essays here. The stance this essay is attempting to convey is that the Ministry, while it may have good intentions, simply lacks an understanding of how the school operates. It may, however, also have malicious intent. Reports from a source inside the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, though which office will remain anonymous, state that Mr. Iain Prince has been meeting with the representatives from the International Confederation of Wizards. These representatives have, in the past, met with students in attempts to coerce them into altering their political alignments. Whether this information is related to Mr. Prince's intentions is, for the moment, unknown, but the connection is troubling, and we must wonder about the state of the magical youth's education and intellectual freedom with the Taskforce still in place._

Rose woke up in Malfoy Manor on November 3 already anxious about the day to come. A rather awkward breakfast passed in the dining room, with Scorpius hardly looking up from his food at all, much less acknowledging her. Rose didn't really know what to say to his father either, seeing as her mother would decide the fate of _his_ father within the day. She was also a bit in awe of Scorpius's mother since he'd told her about her duelling past and couldn't say much to her. Therefore, there was barely any conversation until they were finished and Hetty came in to clear the dishes. Mr. Malfoy stood up quickly and said, "We should go, the trial starts in about half an hour, but we might get caught by the press on the way in."

Rose and Scorpius stood up after Scorpius's parents and they headed to the entrance hall of the manor. When they'd arrived there, his parents stopped and turned to them. "All right, Scorpius, you'll come with me, and Rose will go with your mother, all right?"

"Sure," Scorpius said, sounding at least as nervous as Rose felt, and grabbed onto his father's arm. In a second, they were gone, and Mrs. Malfoy extended her arm to Rose. Rose grabbed on and Astoria Disapparated. Rose had Apparated before, with her parents, but she still wasn't completely prepared for the feeling, like she was being stretched and flattened. She also felt as if she couldn't breathe and her head was pounding. Thankfully, it only lasted seconds, and soon they were standing in the middle of the lobby of the Ministry. There were reporters all around, currently asking Scorpius's father questions, and Scorpius hurried over to Rose. "Before they noticed us, they were talking about the essay. Wondering if there'll be another. They're trying to figure out who it is, too, though if they think it's your aunt they aren't saying—she is their editor after all. You should publish another, they're definitely waiting on it."

Suddenly a reporter hurried over to where they stood. "Mr. Malfoy, a few questions please? I'm with the WWN news bulletin."

"At least he's not the Prophet," Rose whispered, and Scorpius nodded.

"Er, sure," he said, and the wizard looked very pleased.

"Great, so, what made you decide that now was the time to press charges against your grandfather if he'd abused you for years?"

Scorpius flinched a little and the reporter looked a little apologetic. "Bit blunt, that question," he said, then continued, "Er, we felt since he was already arrested that it would be difficult for him to deny the charges or attempt to silence my claims." He'd obviously rehearsed and Rose felt very bad for him. He looked like he was about to be sick.

"And do you believe that he really will be found guilty this time?"

"Yes," he said, sounding more confident than she'd ever heard him sound on the matter. "Especially with the addition of other charges. We're confident."

"Right, okay, and why did you decide to return to your family after leaving the year before?"

Scorpius looked at Rose, and she was almost surprised at his face. He looked so overwhelmed that she didn't care at all what anyone else was thinking at that moment and took his hand and nodded encouragingly. She'd forgotten about their connection and briefly saw the situation from his eyes. Even though she couldn't hear what he was thinking, she could tell he was even more anxious and scared than she'd thought. She tried to send him encouraging thoughts as best as she could and her sight went back to normal. Scorpius's eyes flickered down to their hands for a second before turning back to the reporter. "I haven't returned to my family, not completely. I returned to the Manor for the summer for my parents, not my grandparents, because they wanted me to give them a chance. We're still not sure if I'm really coming back."

"Will the results of the trial affect your decision?"

"Yes, definitely," he said. "If Lucius is found innocent, I'm not going back again."

The reporter nodded, and his eyes widened as he looked down at their hands as if he'd found yet another front page story. Rose felt embarrassed suddenly but didn't move her hand. "And you arrived here this morning with your parents and Rose Weasley, yes?"

"That's right. Rose is my best friend and she's here with me for support."

"Right. That's all, Mr. Malfoy, thank you."

"Great, good morning," he said, nodding, and turned quickly and walked away, Rose following closely. He'd broken his hand off from hers and Rose felt guilty for being disappointed. They caught up with his parents, who'd also gotten away from the press, and were ushered into an elevator on its way down to the courtrooms. They stood in the back with Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy in front of them, and Scorpius's thoughts were in her head almost immediately.

 _Thanks for that. Though you can't ever tell Al we held hands._

 _That reporter seemed to like it. Thought he'd found the scoop of the century,_ she replied, trying to make it sound as casual as possible. If thoughts had tone to speak of, that is.

 _Yeah. Can you imagine?_ She could almost hear him laughing, though it seemed a bit forced and she was glad when he changed the subject. _We aren't sitting with them; I want to sit with you as far away in the witness area as possible._

 _Of course._

 _My grandmother'll be there too. We're avoiding her as well._

 _Yeah, I figured as much._ She paused. _Are you okay?_

 _Never been better,_ he replied, somehow making it sound sarcastic, and she rolled her eyes a little as the elevator opened to a long corridor in the basement of the Ministry. The hall was filled with people who all started to walk towards one of the courtrooms, which they entered along with them. Scorpius tried to break off from his parents but his mother didn't let him go without a hug. Rose attempted to follow him when he darted away quickly afterwards and Astoria stopped her as well. "Is he all right?" she asked hesitantly.

"He's pretending to be handling this better than he actually is," she said slowly, and Astoria nodded. "He'll be all right," she added, and his mother smiled nervously.

"I know. He's my son," she said, sounding very proud all of a sudden. Rose remembered Scorpius's story and suddenly felt a strong urge to say something.

"Thank you," she blurted out. "For helping him. He told me you taught him how to… protect himself." She looked surprised, but nodded. "He cares about you a lot, really."

Astoria hugged Rose tightly for a few seconds and Rose was more than a little surprised, but didn't try to pull away. When she let go of her, the Wizengamot started filing into the room and Astoria hurried to sit down next to her husband. Rose walked down the row until she found Scorpius and sat down at his left. "What was that?" he asked.

"I'm… not sure," Rose said. There was the very loud sound of creaking wood and the cage in the center of the room was suddenly occupied. The room burst into hushed whispering as he stood with a heightened show of pride and dignity. He glanced at the prosecution's side and his eyes locked on her and Scorpius. Lucius's expression turned to one of disgust as he coldly regarded them, both of them returning his gaze without any show of emotion, and Rose was sure that it was even harder for Scorpius than it was for her not to show how nervous she was. The last people to enter the room were Rose's mother, along with a man Rose recognized as the Chief Warlock and surprisingly, Malcolm Zabini, who took his seat in the position of Undersecretary to the Head of the Department. Malcolm saw them as Rose's mother sat down and nodded, smiling a little in a what seemed to be a sympathetic way. The room fell to a hush and Rose's mother spoke.

"The Wizengamot presides today over the trial of Lucius Abraxas Malfoy, for charges of war crimes, corruption, bribery, coercion, and child abuse. Opening statements from the prosecution will be heard at this time."

"Thank you, Ms. Granger," a man sitting a few seats down from Rose and Scorpius said, standing up and walking down into the center of the room. Mr. Barclay, she guessed. The trial progressed at an alarmingly slow rate for the first two hours, which focused on evidence for and against the charges of corruption and bribery among other things. Scorpius was getting fidgety and she sent him a thought.

 _Do you know when… this will be over?_

 _Oh, Merlin knows. He's guilty of all this, by the way. They should've called me as a witness to everything. I had to listen to him brag about it for years. He had half the Ministry under his thumb until a few months ago._

"We will now move on to the charges of child abuse," Rose's mum said, looking nervously down at her and Scorpius.

"The prosecution calls Scorpius Malfoy to the stand," Mr. Barclay said, and Rose nodded at Scorpius supportively as he stood up. Though he'd been almost shaking when her mother had spoken, he looked perfectly calm when he stood up. Rose guessed he'd had years of practice of pretending not to care about anything, though, especially in front of Lucius, and however he did it, he walked completely collected to the witness chair. "How are you doing today, Scorpius?" Mr. Barclay said quietly.

"Great, thanks, couldn't be better," he said, glancing at Lucius and rolling his eyes a little bit, and there was a quiet spattering of laughter throughout the room. Rose recognized his amiable, relaxed facade and grew more concerned for him than ever.

"We'll just need you to take this," Mr. Barclay said, and he added two drops from a small phial of purple liquid into a glass of water. Veritaserum. Scorpius nodded and took the glass, downing it quickly, and handed it back to Barclay. "So," he began, "exactly how long is the period of time in which the abuse occurred?"

"Depends on what you mean by abuse. Physical abuse, around five years. Emotional, you could argue ten or eleven."

"And how old were you for, well, let's start with the physical abuse?"

"Five to ten," Scorpius said, and though the answers were coming quickly, Rose could tell it was purely the potion and she could see that he was gripping the edges of his chair.

"What would this entail?"

"Jinxes, hexes, the like. Sometimes he'd use Petrificus Totalus on me at night so I couldn't get out if he thought I might try to run away."

"Did he ever perform any of the Unforgivable Curses on you?"

Scorpius looked uncomfortable. "…I think so."

"Could you elaborate, Scorpius?"

"I've been told by my parents that he had used the Cruciatus Curse on me several times but had Obliviated my memory each time so I wouldn't tell anyone." There were gasps rippling across the room and Rose couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"And what caused the period of physical abuse to end?" Barclay asked.

"I wouldn't let him hurt me anymore. I started to fight back."

"Purely in self defense?"

"Of course. I didn't want to hurt anybody, I just didn't want him to hurt me anymore."

"Did your grandmother come to your defence?"

"She was scared of him."

"Was she a victim as well?"

"Not that I know of. I don't think so."

"Did anyone else try to help you?"

"My mother, once I was older. She taught me to defend myself. But she wasn't around much."

"And the emotional abuse?"

"That started as soon as I could understand what he was saying."

"And what would that entail?"

"He would tell me that I had a responsibility to my family and to my line to be essentially just like him," he said. "When I refused to comply with certain things, he'd call me a disgrace and banish me to one of the taller towers. He'd refuse to speak to me for days. He'd tell me he'd never done anything bad to me and make me feel like I was going crazy, denying everything he'd done. He'd also threaten to disown me all the time. He'd force me to do things, too. Like if I told him we shouldn't have house-elves, he'd force me to be the one to punish them. Once I started going to school, he'd tell me I was a disgrace for the way I acted and locked me in my bedroom for practically the whole summer more than once. He'd tell me if I ever told anyone that no one would believe me even if I told anyone because he'd be too powerful."

"And how did this affect you?"

"I've been depressed since I was about eight years old."

"Thank you, Scorpius." Scorpius nodded and sat down. The trial continued and he didn't say another word or send another thought to her. He didn't show any emotion when Lucius was sentenced to life in Azkaban, guilty of every charge brought against him. He only stood up and was the first one out of the courtroom, with Rose close behind him.


	11. The Defence Lesson

**Hi everyone! I decided to post this today too, just to keep myself on track. More chapters soon! Thanks for reading, and reviews are great! -Kelly**

CHAPTER 11

THE DEFENCE LESSON

The rest of November went by in a blur to Rose. She published two more essays highlighting the failures of the MET system, and there was a significant amount of discourse in the news, and not only the Prophet anymore, about the writings. She was starting to get overwhelmed with the frequency of which she would hear about it. Luckily, the protests at the Ministry were happening simultaneously, so Prince didn't suspect them as far as she knew, and if he did, he never accused them of anything. Scorpius pretended to be completely fine ever since the trial, and Rose didn't want to start a fight, so she didn't say anything. She was secretly burning with morbid curiosity, though, and wishing he would confide in her. She knew, however, that he probably thought she knew too much already.

When they walked into Defence class on the first Monday of December, Leah and Rudomin were standing in the middle of the classroom waiting for them and had pushed the desks out of the way. The class was whispering quietly in anticipation and Rose turned to Al and Scorpius. "Do you really think the Ministry will let us learn duelling?" Rose asked. "This is what the room looked like the last time we did."

"Quiet, please!" Rudomin called out, and they turned to him, all quieting down much more quickly than usual. "Thank you. As you can see, we will be having a practical applications class today. We will be attempting to teach you the Patronus charm." The class erupted in more excited whispering and Rudomin waited for it to die down. "I know you're excited, but don't get carried away; this is a very difficult charm and I don't expect you all to be able to do it. This is OWL, possibly NEWT material, but we thought teaching it now would give you even more time to master it. I'll turn it over to Leah."

"Thanks," she said. "Okay, guys, spread out." The fourth years took their wands out of their bags and spread to their own space in the room. "I want you to think of the happiest memory you have. You have to really feel it. Then you point your wand straight in front of you and say, _Expecto patronum_. Got it?"

" _Expecto patronum_ ," the class echoed and Leah nodded.

"All right, then, get to work."

"What's it supposed to look like?" a Muggleborn asked from the back. "I mean, how will we know when we do it?"

"Oh, you'll know," Leah said. "Want me to demonstrate?"

The students nodded eagerly and Leah shrugged. "All right." She took a second before calling out, " _Expecto patronum!_ " A blue, shimmering image of a hawk flew out of Leah's wand and soared around the room while the students watched in awe. It disappeared after a few seconds as Leah lowered her wand. "Your turn," she said, smiling, and the students began to attempt the charm. Rose looked around the room nervously, thinking with only a little guilt that she couldn't stand it if Scorpius could do it before her. She smirked a little when she saw him staring at his wand in frustration across the room and began to think about what her happiest memory would be. For a moment Rose thought about when Scorpius had danced with her at Teddy and Victiore's wedding, but she knew she'd be too embarrassed if that ended up working, so she quickly put it out of her mind. After a minute of deliberation, she decided on the day she received her Hogwarts letter and prepared herself.

" _Expecto patronum_ ," she said, seeming to echo the students around her all trying multiple times to produce the charm, and her wand tip started to produce a faint blue glow before it evaporated. She groaned and prepared to try again.

"I think you're close, Rose," Leah said as she weaved through the students, watching them. "You've got to really go for it, though. You practically whispered that last one."

Rose nodded and tried again with the same memory. " _Expecto patronum!_ " The blue glow grew again, but it still wasn't noticeable. No one else had even gotten that far, though, as far as she could tell, so she was still slightly pleased with herself.

"Try a different memory," Leah suggested, and Rose nodded. She racked her brain, trying to think of something that made her happier than her Hogwarts letter. She realized that that particular memory wasn't going to work because she'd been expecting it; it was more of a relief when she got it than happiness. She realized that she was truly happy when she got her wand at Ollivander's, since that meant she was really part of the magical world for the first time. She thought about that as hard as she could, pointed her wand in front of her, and called out, " _Expecto patronum!_ "

The blue glow burst out from her wand and grew until it was about her size, staying firmly in front of her like a sort of shield, and the other students stopped in their tracks. She could almost see a form starting to emerge from the glow, but she was so interested in what it would be that she stopped thinking about her memory and the Patronus vanished. Rose saw Al gaping at her from the other side of the room and thought she heard Scorpius curse under his breath and she grinned. "Impressive, Miss Weasley," Rudomin said, smiling. "Ten points for Gryffindor."

The class started discussing Rose's feat excitedly, some Gryffindors hurrying over to her, and Rudomin called them to order. "Settle down, you can talk later. Keep practicing, we still have quite a bit of time left." Rose tried to produce the Patronus again, but couldn't get anything past what had happened before. She was a little disappointed, as she wanted to see what form it would take, but she was for the most part satisfied with the shield-like charm she'd created. By the end of the class, Scorpius had gotten a small blue glow out of his wand, as did Al and Emma Drake, but the other students weren't able to produce anything at all. When the class was over, Leah stopped them as they were about to leave.

"Hold on, hold on, we've still got an announcement," she said. "Well, first of all, great job to everyone, that's sixth-year magic at least and we didn't expect anything from you. That being said, well done to those who saw some results. As for the announcement, applications for the exchange trip are available now, I'll have them here, take one if you want one. Those'll be due to me by Saturday night and you'll have to meet with McGonagall sometime next week. You'll be notified if you were chosen over the holiday. All right, you can go now." Rose waited while Scorpius and Al ran up to get applications, along with most of the rest of the class. They walked out before anyone could swarm Rose and quickly slipped down the hallway.

"You're not applying?" Al asked incredulously. "I thought you'd be all for 'international contacts' and 'unique learning experiences'."

"I can't," Rose said. "I have responsibilities with the Army and the essays."

"Must be hard to be a revolutionary. I'm going to get an American girlfriend," Al announced, and Rose snorted.

"Yeah, okay. You can't even talk to girls who fancy you here," she told him.

"Girls fancy me here?" he asked, and Rose shared a look with Scorpius.

"I don't believe it. Are you serious?" Scorpius asked. "Mate, any girl would love you to ask them out. You're the son of the Chosen One, you could have just as many girls as James if you wanted."

"Well, I don't—that can't be true," he said, turning very pink.

"Don't you remember how upset Ariana got last year? And don't tell me you don't know Alana fancies you.""That's only two!" Al protested.

"Those are just the ones I know personally," Scorpius said.

"Well, all I know is American girls are supposed to like English accents," Al said quickly, obviously deflecting. "So if a bloke goes, he won't be single long." As they walked to History of Magic, Rose found herself suddenly hoping that whoever was chosen, it wasn't Scorpius.

Rose stayed longer than usual after dinner because of a particularly difficult Ancient Runes assignment that she asked Aidan for help with, and when she returned to the common room, most of her House was already there. She had only been inside the portrait hole for about five seconds when Min saw her and ran up to her with Roxanne.

"I want to see this Patronus," Roxanne said expectantly, and Min nodded behind her.

"What? Er, okay," Rose said. Curious students that hadn't been in her Defence class gathered around rather quickly once Rose had set her bag down, and she thought very hard about the same memory while she shouted, " _Expecto patronum!_ " The same shield burst forth, slightly bigger than the first time but still with no form, to Rose's disappointment. The students watching were clearly impressed nonetheless and a few first years cheered. After she answered a few people's questions and disentangled herself from the small crowd, she went to sit down with Al and Scorpius, Scorpius writing intently and Al staring at a blank roll of parchment. "Hi," she said. "What are you doing?"

"Transfiguration," they both replied, and Al looked up at her in relief. "Please, Rose, help."

Rose asked, "Is this the eighteen inches we got assigned Thursday?" Al nodded and she continued, "The one you had all weekend to do?"

"Please help."

"All right, fine," she sighed. "What's it about again? I forgot. I did it Friday night."

"Vanishing spells and how they relate to the laws of magic. What the bloody hell are the laws of magic?"

Rose stared at him in disbelief and said, "The foundation of Transfiguration and of literally all magic, _where_ have you been?"

"Mostly the Quidditch pitch."

Rose groaned. "If I manage to find time to do both, you can."

"You've got a Time-Turner!"

"Not anymore, and I've still got O's. What about you?"

"I've never had O's. I've got E's, though."

"Well, it's better than what I'd expect from that kind of question," Rose said, shaking her head. "Basically, just say something about how Vanishing spells don't just make the object go into thin air, that nothing can just disappear because of the laws of matter. Please at least tell me you know about the laws of matter, you went to primary school with me."

"I know what the laws of matter are, Rose, I'm not an idiot."

"Debatable," she muttered. "Anyway, use that. So objects can't be created or destroyed, so the objects have to go somewhere. Same with when you make things appear, something just disappeared from somewhere because it has to. That's the fourth Fundamental Law of Magic—"

"Will you just do it?" Al asked. Rose was going to refuse, but he looked so desperate that she rolled her eyes and conceded. As she started to write essentially the exact same thing she'd written on hers with a few intentional mistakes, Al took out the application for the exchange program from his bag and began to fill it out. After a few minutes, he groaned aloud. "They're asking for my average yearly grades. I'm doomed. Someone's going to have all O's."

"The only people that have all O's are Scorpius and me," Rose muttered as she started the second paragraph of Al's essay.

"All right, well, they'll pick Scorpius, then," Al replied.

"Not unless my essay's good enough," Scorpius said absently as he finished his paper, and Al's eyes widened.

"There's an _essay?_ " He looked down at the bottom of the page. "Oh, damn, there it is. 'Explain why you would like to study abroad for the remainder of term'. What do I say?"

"Say it's the opportunity of a lifetime, that you're so grateful for the opportunity, etcetera, they love that," Scorpius said.

Al began to write and then stopped halfway through. "Even I know this is rubbish. I'm seriously considering just writing 'I am single'.""Would you like to argue that point to McGonagall?" Scorpius asked.

Al looked horrified. "Hell, no."

"Then I would advise against it."

Al sighed and kept writing, while Rose started the conclusion of the essay. "Are you staying here for Christmas?" Scorpius asked her, and Rose glanced up.

"Er, no, sorry, I'm going home."

"Oh, maybe I'll see you, then."

"What do you mean?" Rose asked, finishing Al's essay. "Here, Al."

"I love you," Al exclaimed, snatching up the essay. "You're my favorite cousin."

"Whatever," she chuckled as he carefully put the essay in his bag.

"I might be moving in with Teddy and Victoire," Scorpius said, and Rose's attention was very quickly pulled back to him.

"What? Why?"

"Remember that letter I sent him? I asked him if I could move in if I paid rent. He said yes, but he didn't know what they were doing for Christmas and that I could move in over the holidays if they were going to be there."

"Well, I heard that they're going with Victoire and Min's family to France," Rose said.

"Oh," Scorpius said, sounding disappointed. "All right. Then I suppose I won't see you."

"Well, you can move in with them in the summer. Or you could even go over Easter," Al suggested.

"No one goes home over Easter," Scorpius muttered.

"You'd have a reason to," Rose said, and he nodded. She hesitated before adding, "I didn't even know you were leaving the Manor."

"I talked to my parents about it," he said. "We agreed on it. It's better for me not to live there, it just makes me more depressed. I'm still going to talk to them and everything, I just… need to live somewhere else."

"They're okay with it?" Al asked.

"I think so. I don't know," Scorpius said, shrugging. "I'm here most of the time anyway."

"Yeah," Rose said, though she felt bad. "Are they going to pay for it or…?"

"They want to but I don't think I'm going to let them," Scorpius said. "I don't want to use that money. It's Lucius's blood money. It's not worth it. I'll get a job, don't worry about it."

"Okay," Rose said hesitantly.

"I'm going up to bed, I'll see you guys tomorrow," Scorpius said suddenly. He picked up his bag and was up the stairs before they could really say anything.

"It's only 8:30," Al remarked, and Rose shook her head. She'd given up on trying to understand Scorpius a while ago.


	12. Christmas at the Burrow

**Hi guys! Thanks so much for reading, I hope you like the chapter! -Kelly**

CHAPTER 12

CHRISTMAS AT THE BURROW

"Are you sure you have everything? Because you said you did last year, and then you left your Transfiguration textbook in your room and had to do a two-foot essay the night you got back," Rose reminded Hugo when he came down the stairs carrying his trunk and his owl, Roger. He rolled his eyes at her.

"Yes, I have everything," he said.

"Well, where's your scarf? It's cold out," she said, and he groaned.

"You're not my mum, let's just go," he said, and Rose sighed as she picked up her own trunk and Musetta and followed her brother out of the common room. The massive amount of students trying to leave the castle all at once was a bit overwhelming, especially once they reached the entrance hall, and Rose was surprised when she felt someone tap her shoulder.

"How did you find us?" she asked Scorpius. "It's chaos in here. I thought you'd be trying to sleep through it."

"I had to say goodbye," he said, shrugging.

"I see Louis and Lysander, I'll meet you on the train, Rose," Hugo said, and Rose nodded.

"Bye, Hugo," Scorpius said, and Hugo waved as he ran off to meet his friends. "So, I'll see you around, then."

Rose felt sad to be leaving him, which she immediately reminded herself was ridiculous. _It's only Christmas_ , she reminded herself. _This is just pathetic._ "Yeah, I'll see you. Oh, and I'll tell Teddy maybe Easter?"

"It'll probably be summer," Scorpius said. "I usually like to study at Easter."

"Well, whichever, I'll tell him," Rose said.

"Okay," Scorpius said. Rose didn't really know what else to say, so she decided to go before she embarrassed herself.

"Well, goodbye," she said, and started to turn around.

"Rose, wait," he said, and grabbed her wrist. Rose's pulse quickened despite herself and she looked at him, confused. He hesitated and hugged her. Rose hugged him back, though she was very aware of the small scene they were making. He reluctantly let go eventually, and said, "Bye, Weasley. I'll miss you."

"It's two weeks, you're being weird," Rose laughed, secretly very happy that he would miss her.

"Yeah, I know, sorry," he mumbled. "You'd better get on the train."

Rose nodded and waved at him as she walked away, grinning as soon as he couldn't see her anymore.

When the train reached Platform 9 3/4, she got off with Hugo and found her parents quickly. "Hey, kids," her father said as Hugo ran in for a hug. Rose smiled at him and her mother walked over to her.

"No Scorpius?" her mother asked. "We half expected him. Your gran's ready with extra blankets if we needed them."

"No, he's staying at school," Rose said. "Did Teddy tell you he's moving in with them?"

"Really? He hasn't said anything," her mother said. "Well, that'll be lovely, I'm sure they'll want the help soon enough."

"What do you mean?" Rose asked, and her mother shook her head.

"Oh, I forgot, I'm not supposed to say. You'll find out at Christmas."

"Okay," Rose said, a little suspicious, but before she could ask more questions, her father started to leave the platform and they followed.

"He's all right, isn't he? Scorpius, I mean," her mother asked. "I felt so awful for him at the trial. It was very nice of you to come with him, by the way, Rose, I was very proud."

"Oh, thanks," Rose said. "Er, yeah, he's fine, I think. But I mean, he's not going back to live with them, so maybe it brought back too many bad memories. I don't know, he doesn't like to talk about that much, and I don't want to upset him so I don't ask."

"Well, that's probably the right thing to do," her mother said. "I wouldn't want to talk about something like that either."

Rose hesitated before asking something that she'd been thinking about for a while. "Nothing like that happened to you, right, Mum? I mean, I thought that might be why we've never met your parents, and I know some Muggleborns' parents react really badly and mistreat them like my friend Aidan's or…"

"No, no, Rose, nothing at all like that," she said quickly, and Rose could see that she was starting to tear up. "My parents were never anything but kind to me, and they were very understanding and supportive of my being a witch. I'd rather not discuss it right now, perhaps another time." Rose had hardly gotten an answer and just had more questions than before, but they'd reached the car and the second she got in her dad started a conversation.

"So, Rosie, how's school been going?"

"Okay, I guess. It's been a little weird with all the Ministry people around."

"Oh, yeah, we've been reading about that in the paper. All those anonymous essays are really stirring up some talk," her dad said, and Hugo glanced at Rose looking like he was trying not to laugh. She looked at him sternly to stop him.

"Yeah, I've seen those. Lucy hasn't shut up about them."

"I'm sure she hasn't," her dad said. "Though I bet you'd agree with it, too, right?"

"Well, yeah, I suppose," Rose said. "I've been trying to focus on schoolwork this year."

"Well I thought you lot had that Modernists group," he said.

"They shut that down," Rose said, sounding more than a little bitter, and Rose's mum shook her head.

"I don't know what they think they're doing at that school. It almost reminds me of our fifth year, we—well, I don't want you getting any ideas."

Hugo looked like he was ready to burst, and Rose nodded slowly trying to appear as casual as she could.

"So, did you apply for that exchange program we've been hearing about?" her mother asked, and Rose was glad for the change of subject.

"Oh, no, I… didn't want to disrupt my year. Having to adjust to new classes and new teachers and all that."

"Well, all right, I think it would have been a good opportunity, though."

"I applied," Hugo announced and Rose's mum looked surprised.

"Oh, really? What school is your year exchanging with?"

"Koldovstoretz. It's in Russia," Hugo informed them, as if the title didn't already reveal that.

"Oh, er, wonderful, I hope you were picked," their mother said uncomfortably, and Rose could tell that they were both thinking the same thing: Hugo didn't speak a word of Russian.

"How's Quidditch?" her dad asked quickly.

"Not that great," Rose admitted. "Ravenclaw's really good this year. We aren't sure we can beat them. We've won every match that hasn't been against Ravenclaw, though." Rose didn't mention that they'd only had two games that weren't against Ravenclaw so far.

"Well, you can't always win," he said. "Hugo, you're still a Beater alternate, right?"

"Yeah," Hugo said, looking a little disappointed. "I never get put in, though."

"You should ask Uncle George to help you," their dad suggested. "He was a Beater all through school."

"Really?" Hugo asked.

"Yeah, sure. Ask him at Christmas, I'm sure he'd help you train."

"Cool, thanks!" The rest of the car ride faded into minimal conversation and Rose found herself thinking about the essays. She couldn't believe that neither of her parents suspected that it was her at all. She thought it was almost too obvious who was writing them.

However, when Christmas came around and the present-opening part of the day was over, she found that was definitely not the case.

While most of the extended Weasley-Potter family was gathered around the fireplace in the sitting room, Teddy and Victoire stood up and announced that they were expecting. Gran had nearly tackled Victoire in a hug mumbling 'great-grandchildren!' and was now talking quietly in a corner of the room with her. Some of the adults had gone into the kitchen to do the washing up because they realized Gran wasn't going to get up and do it any time soon, though Uncle George and Fred were preoccupied by Hugo asking rapid-fire Beater strategy questions and Aunt Angelina was talking to Aunt Fleur in the corner with Roxanne, Min, and Louis. Rose was sitting with Al playing chess while Lily and James watched.

"I really don't get why Uncle Percy couldn't come," Lily said as Rose attacked Al's knight with her rook. "I mean, I know about the protests and everything, but it's Christmas."

"It's not about his job," James said. "Ava's having dinner with their family at their manor. They said they might stop by later though."

"Poor Ava," Rose muttered.

"Danny Chang-Li's in the same boat, except this isn't anything new to him," James said. "Ava's only on her second year, and that's if you count the dinner at the wedding, they were at Ava's parents for most of Christmas last year. I'm sure she's definitely still afraid of him."

"He's just Uncle Percy," Al said. "Damn it all, Rose." Al's king was in check and he didn't see a way out. Rose did, though only one, and she wasn't telling.

"Well, yeah, but he's the Minister of Magic, too," Lily reminded them.

"That's true. Speaking of boyfriends and girlfriends," James said, "where's Lorcan this evening?" Lily turned pink and James laughed.

"Lorcan's at his own house. And you know that. You're not asking Louis where Lysander is."

"Louis isn't my brother, I don't have to threaten his boyfriends," James said.

"We aren't dating!"

"Well, yeah, but only because you're twelve."

"James!"

"Fine, fine," he said, grinning. "I'll let it go. But mark my words, in a couple of years…"

"You can shut up any time, thanks," Lily said, glaring, and James looked a little nervous for a second. They all knew Lily was slightly dangerous when provoked.

Suddenly, Rose heard raised voices coming from the dining room. "What's that about?" Rose asked.

"I'll go see," James said, and got up to go into the kitchen. Rose, Al, and Lily waited quietly, but after a few minutes Rose couldn't help it anymore and walked into the kitchen as well.

"I don't think they know what they're talking about at all," Uncle Harry was saying. Rose realized with a jolt that they were talking about the essays. "There's no proof that the MET is doing anything harmful. They were only put in place because of the security breaches last year, and you of all people should know that can't happen again, James."

"But that's not what they're doing," James argued. "They're keeping anyone from having an opinion that isn't exactly theirs. They've commandeered History of Magic and Muggle Studies, too, just to change people's opinions."

"There's no proof of that," Uncle Harry said.

"Well, they are," Rose said, and they both turned to look at her. "I mean, I'm in both classes, and they're definitely trying to say everything we've been trying to campaign against. They're changing history to favor the Ministry, and they can't do that!"

"Well, if that's really what they're doing, the way to stop it is to come forward with solid proof, not publish anonymous complaints in a paper," he said.

"I'm not sure they can," Aunt Ginny said. "I can tell you that the owls we get are standard post owls and they aren't coming from very far, just a day trip. So they can't be at Hogwarts." Rose hid a smile as she realized that Lucy's idea of putting future dates on the essays so the owl travel time would throw people off was working.

"So how could they possibly know anything?" Uncle Harry was saying.

"I think that everything they say makes sense, actually," Aunt Ginny said, and Uncle Harry looked a little surprised, while James looked quite pleased. Rose looked around the room and saw Teddy and Uncle Bill standing at the sink with Granddad trying very hard to not become involved. "And Ron and Hermione agree with me, don't you?"

Uncle Harry turned to Rose's parents, who looked slightly apologetic while her mother said, "Well, Harry, you have to admit—"

"All right, fine, but where are they getting these 'reports' from your department, Hermione?"

"We haven't sent out any reports, I've no idea how they're getting that information," her mother admitted.

"So someone's leaking information?" Harry asked. "Brilliant."

"Whatever, Dad, who cares? They're telling the truth, I thought you'd be happy about it. Didn't you sort of start a revolution when they did the same thing?" James asked, and Uncle Harry shook his head.

"Dumbledore's Army was a completely separate—"

"No, I don't think it is!"

"Well, then, what, are you going to start it up again? Are you going to get that angry about a new history teacher?"

James shook his head. "You don't understand what's going on." He stomped out back into the sitting room and the room fell very quiet.

"Er, Rose, can I ask you something? It's, er, about Scorpius," Teddy said. Rose nodded and followed him outside.

"What is it? He said he's going to get a job, so—"

"No, it's not really about Scorpius," Teddy said. Rose looked at him, confused, and he sighed. "Look, Rose," he said, his voice barely over a whisper, "there's no one else who knows what I've been sending you in my letters. Just you and Lucy. Now Lucy's very clever, but she's loads better at speeches than essays. I know it's you." Rose opened her mouth to respond but Teddy kept talking. "I'm not going to tell anyone. I think it's brilliant. But you need to be careful. You're starting to give yourself away. Lots people have been guessing it's a student at Hogwarts, and it's only a matter of time before they start narrowing it down. I expect the METs will, too. And from James's outburst about the DA, I'm assuming this isn't all you're doing?" Rose shook her head. Teddy smiled a little. "I wish I was still there to see it. Just... the more I hear about this, the less I like it. I'm worried about how far they're willing to go."

"Thanks, Teddy," Rose said, and he nodded. "Oh, and congratulations."

He broke into a grin. "Oh, thanks," he said. "I think it's a girl." He held the door open for her and they went back inside, careful to avoid the kitchen.


	13. The Protest In Diagon Alley

**Hi everyone! Thanks for reading, more updates soon! -Kelly**

CHAPTER 13

THE PROTEST IN DIAGON ALLEY

"Rose, catch!" Roxanne called, and Rose caught the Quaffle just before it flew right past her. She sped over to the other side of the makeshift pitch she and her cousins had created behind the Burrow and narrowly avoided James's head as the ball went flying through one of his goals. Her team cheered and she ducked away from a Bludger hit her way by Fred.

"Was that necessary?" she shrieked as Hugo hit it back towards their team, and just as she was about to move again, Al and Lily went diving past her, heading dangerously close to the ground before pulling up again and chasing the Snitch that was suddenly rocketing back up another hundred feet. It was after dinner on one of the last nights of the Christmas holiday, and they had exhausted all other means of entertainment so they were therefore playing Quidditch. As the sun set, Rose spotted someone walking up the path to the Burrow and started waving their arms at them. Rose and a couple of the others went down and ran over to who they could now see was Lucy. "Hey," Rose said.

"Hi," Lucy said. "Actually, guys, I only need Rose, sorry. I'll see you at school." Hugo and Roxanne returned to the pitch, a little put out, and Rose set her broom down.

"Is this about the essays or something? Did you hear what happened at Christmas, by the way?"

"Yeah, James told me. That's not exactly what I'm here about," she said.

"Okay, what is it?" Rose asked.

"Do you want to come to a protest tonight?" Lucy asked. Rose's eyes widened.

"Er… I mean, I would but… my parents would never let me, and… hold on, how did you get here?"

"We could tell your parents I'm taking you shopping or something," Lucy said. "And I turned 17 a few weeks ago and passed my Apparition test last Monday."Rose couldn't argue with that, but she still had a very bad feeling about lying to her parents. "Are you sure about this?"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "You know, for a Gryffindor, you're a lot less rebellious than I'd hoped. Your parents said they support the cause, anyway, right?"

"The cause of the essays. Which are currently just about the MET. I've no idea how they feel about the Statute."

"Well, they don't need to know. Like I said. So?" Lucy asked, and Rose hesitated before nodding.

"Okay, fine. Just give me a second." Rose ran upstairs and changed into Muggle clothes before hurrying into the kitchen where her parents were sitting with Aunt Ginny. "Lucy's outside, can she take me to Flourish and Blotts?"

"How are you getting there?" her mother asked, suddenly looking concerned.

"Lucy can Apparate now," Rose told her, and she looked at Rose's father, unsure.

"Come on, Hermione, she's 14, she's with someone older, and she won't be gone too late, right, Rose?" her dad asked. Rose nodded quickly.

Rose's mother nodded. "All right, just be careful, and be home before 10:00."

"Thank you!" Rose called out as she ran out of the house, where Lucy was still waiting. "All right, we're good.""Where are we 'going', just so the story's straight?" Lucy asked."Flourish and Blotts," Rose said. Lucy nodded.

"Well, we'll actually be close, so that's good. Hold on," she said, and Rose grabbed onto Lucy's coat as they Disapparated. When they arrived at Diagon Alley, the shops and streets were covered with snow, a state Rose had rarely seen them in as she really only went during the summer. "The Ministry's closed for Christmas," Lucy explained, "so they've had to move."

"I know, my mum hasn't gone in since Christmas Eve," Rose said. Just then, a girl in a black coat with a shock of blue hair in a pixie cut approached them holding signs. She didn't seem to be that much older than Lucy, in her early twenties at the most.

"Hi, Lucy, managed to sneak away tonight?" she asked, and Lucy grinned.

"How long have you been going to these?" Rose whispered, but Lucy didn't answer. The girl looked over at Rose and smiled.

"You must be Rose," she said, extending her hand, and Rose nodded, shaking it. "Arabella Pinkstone, pleasure to meet you."

"Hi," Rose said, then realized that she recognized the name. "Hold on, are you…?"

"Carlotta Pinkstone's granddaughter? Yep, that's me."

"The leader of the anti-Statute riots in the 1950s?"

"Bella's carrying on the family tradition," Lucy said, still smiling.

"While Lucy here's sort of doing the opposite," Bella added. "Where is your dad tonight, anyway?"

"In the office," Lucy said, wrinkling her nose. "Glad that we can't get in."

"Of course he is. Here, take these," Bella said, handing them two of the signs she held. Rose looked at what was written on hers: MUGGLE RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS. She had a strange feeling that her mother would be proud of her, despite lying about going to a bookstore, and picked up the sign, holding it up. "Come stand over here by me." They followed Bella to the line of protesters already in place along the cobbled street of the North Side and Rose glanced warily at the people in Ministry robes standing at either end of the line. "Oh, don't worry about them, they're just security," Bella said. "Actually they won't leave us alone… so Lucy's told me a bit about you. I've been reading your work," she said in a low voice. Rose looked at her, startled, and she smiled. "Don't worry, I'm the only one that knows. I was just wondering if we could persuade you to write for our cause too."

"Oh, er, yes, I mean, we've been meaning to but we…" Rose trailed off and Lucy interjected.

"We always meant to but we got a little sidetracked with the whole oppression of freedom of speech going on at school," she said, and Bella nodded.

"Well, yeah. It's actually probably a good thing; you've gotten people to trust you with a less inflammatory issue." Rose shook her head at the fact that denouncing the Ministry is less inflammatory than what she was doing right now. "But I think that now you've got a following, it would sway a lot of people if you started writing for Muggle rights and against the Statute."

"I'll try to soon, I mean, I'm sure if you contacted Lucy she could let me know when you'd want me to," Rose said, and Bella nodded.

"Yeah, sure. Oh, hey, Lucy, did you hear they spotted Nott in Dublin yesterday?"

A chill went through Rose as Lucy asked, "Really? Do they think that's where he's been hiding?"

"I think they do. Your uncle told the Prophet he's assembling a force to go after him later in the year—" Bella started to say, but was interrupted suddenly."Progressive what? What's that say?" An older wizard with an obvious vision problem had come up to them and pointed at Bella's sign.

She smiled at him and said, "Progressive Union of Wizards for Muggle-Wizard Equality. If you'd like to know more about the cause we have pamphlets over there with the wizard in the green coat—"

"I don't want to know more about your stupid cause," he muttered. "You damn kids are just causing trouble. The Ministry's never going to listen to you."

"Well, I beg to differ," Bella said politely, "if enough of their people protest the current treatment of Muggles—"

"Muggles are fine the way they are," he said.

"Well, sir, to be frank, they're only fine because we tamper with their memories in a way that completely violates their personal freedom."

"Do you have a permit to be here?" the man asked loudly, and Bella looked offended.

"Er, well, yes, of course we do, there's no need to shout—" Rose saw the old man beginning to take out his wand and tried to warn Bella, but he already had it out. Lucy pulled out her wand more quickly than Rose could and before Rose could do anything, Lucy called out, " _Expelliarmus!_ " and the man's wand went flying across the street. Immediately, the Ministry officials were there and had confiscated both of their wands. "Hey, you can't do that, you can't arrest us, I was defending myself!"

"You drew your wands on a civilian, that means you're both being arrested for inflammatory protesting," the man said in a bored voice. "Let's go." Rose looked at Lucy in alarm and she rolled her eyes and started walking with the man. To Rose's horror, the man pointed his wand against Lucy's back and said, "Faster." Rose followed and the other man followed her. She couldn't even think about how much trouble she was in or she might be sick. They were both shoved into a Ministry car and driven away.

"Where are you taking us?" Rose asked. The men seemed to ignore her and she felt anger bubbling up in her. "We have rights, you know."

" _Silencio_ ," the man muttered, pointing his wand at them, and suddenly Rose had lost the ability to speak. She looked at Lucy in disbelief and Lucy rolled her eyes. The car stopped in front of the Ministry visitors' entrance and they were pulled out of the car and taken down in the phone booth entrance, each with one of the men. When they reached the lobby the men seemed to be deliberating about something. "Should we still take them to the Aurors' office? There's nobody here."

"What about the DMLE?" the other man asked, and Rose felt a jolt of horror when she heard her mother's department.

"No one's there either," the first said, shaking his head.

Lucy started gesturing wildly and they turned to her, looking annoyed. "What?" She gestured to her face and one of the men cursed under his breath. "Oh, damn, it's the Minister's daughter. He told us to bring her to his office if she got arrested like last time."

"What about the younger one?" the other man asked, and the first looked at her closely.

"Oh, hold on, she's another Weasley… I think she's Granger's," he said. "That right?" he asked, and Rose nodded, glaring at them. "We should probably take her to the Minister, too."

"All right, fine," the other man said. Lucy gestured to her throat and Rose's while giving them death glares and he dug out his wand. "All right, all right, _finite incantatum_."

"Thanks so much, you're very kind," Lucy said, dripping with sarcasm, as they all got on the elevator to the Minister's office. When they arrived, they walked down a long hallway and were led to a very grand oak door.

"Have fun," the man snickered, and they opened the door. Uncle Percy was sitting at his desk, looking at a piece of parchment very seriously. He glanced up when the door opened, then did a double take and sighed.

"Again?" he asked. " _Rose?_ " he added, shocked. "Er, sit down. Can I have their wands, please?" he asked the men, and they gave them over. "Thank you, you may go." The men left as Rose and Lucy sat down on empty chairs on the other side of the room. Uncle Percy got up and walked over to them, folding his arms. "What happened this time, Lucy?"

"It wasn't our fault! Some old bigot came up to us and tried to attack us, only I Disarmed him before he could actually cast anything, and since Rose and I had our wands out they just arrested us right there."

"I don't care whose fault it was, I care about what it looks like. A member—two members—of the Ministerial family casting a spell on a civilian? You can't tell me you don't understand why you can't do things like this! And honestly, Rose, I expected more from you," he added, and Rose felt a little bit of guilt that she quickly replaced with anger. This was all about his image; did he even care about what the truth was? "I'll need to call your parents," he said, and crossed the room to his desk where he picked up the phone and began to dial.

"I shouldn't have drawn my wand," Rose whispered.

"Well, I shouldn't have either," Lucy said. "At least this way neither of us will get expelled. I can actually use magic outside of school, Rose, I don't know what you were thinking. Clearly they didn't consider it self-defense."

"It just sort of happened," Rose said awkwardly.

"Well, thank Merlin it didn't, the Army can't afford you getting expelled."

"Yes, I know, it's a shock to me, too… I'm sorry Lucy got her into this… yes, we're in my office… all right, Hermione, I'll see you in a little while." Uncle Percy hung up and sighed. "Your mother will be here as soon as she can, Rose." Around ten seconds later, they heard the telltale loud cracking sound of Apparition and Lucy let out a low whistle.

"Your mum doesn't waste time, Rose," Lucy commented, and the door flew open after that. Rose's mother stood in the doorway looking livid.

"Hermione," Uncle Percy said. "Sorry we couldn't make it to Christmas—and, er, sorry for meeting in these circumstances."

"Oh, yes, er, Happy Christmas, Percy, sorry about all this," she said. She turned to Rose and her eyes blazed. "What on Earth were you thinking, Rose Minerva Weasley?! Let's go!"

"See you at school," Rose said weakly as her mother pulled her out of the office.

"You tell me you're going to a bookshop and go and get yourself arrested?" she exclaimed.

"Mum, it wasn't even a fair arrest! We were protesting—"

"You were what?"

"And this man came up and tried to attack us and Lucy and I got our wands out and Lucy Disarmed him and they arrested both of us," Rose explained quickly. "Plus, they pointed their wands at Lucy and shoved us around and they even cast a Silencing charm when I questioned them."

"They what?" her mother asked. "That's not the least bit legal treatment of suspects, especially minors, were they from my department?"

"I couldn't tell, but they recognized me and knew you so maybe," Rose said.

"They'd better hope they aren't… you're still in a lot of trouble," she added, noticing Rose's slight relief. "We're going home."

"Sorry, Mum," Rose attempted, and her mother rolled her eyes and held out her arm. Rose grabbed on and couldn't help smiling in spite of herself as they Apparated home.


	14. The Girl From Salem

**Hi everyone! Thanks so much for reading, I hope you like it! New chapters soon! -Kelly**

CHAPTER 14

THE GIRL FROM SALEM

Rose arrived on the Express at Hogsmeade Station excited to see who the new student in their year would be. She was also more than a little excited to see Scorpius again, but she wasn't about to admit that to anyone. She didn't even become all that annoyed at the assigned carriages the way she had in September. She and Al struggled to keep warm as the carriages brought them back to the castle, Al complaining again that he wasn't picked. "I can't believe it, I worked so hard on that essay.""Meaning you actually did it by yourself?" Rose asked, and he looked offended.

"I do plenty of assignments on my own!"

"Okay," Rose snorted, not wanting to argue. "Sure. Who do you think they picked, though?"

Al squirmed in his seat. "I don't know. I don't want to think about it."

"Okay," Rose said slowly, and the carriages started to pull up to the castle. When they entered the Hall for the feast, Rose noticed who was missing and her stomach dropped. "Where's Scorpius?" she asked.

"Er… I don't know," Al said, and Rose knew then. She ran up to the table and sat down in a huff next to Min and Roxanne. Al hurried around to the other side of the table to take the seat opposite Rose next to where James and Harry already sat and Rose saw very clearly the empty spot next to him where Scorpius usually sat.

"They picked him," Rose said flatly. "Of course they did."

"Who, Malfoy?" Min asked, eyes wide. "And he didn't tell you?"

"No," Rose said, feeling the beginning of tears starting to burn in the corners of her eyes. She blinked them back fiercely, absolutely refusing to cry about Scorpius in front of James, and put food onto her plate rather forcefully. Soon, Professor McGonagall stepped up to the podium and everyone fell silent. Rose then noticed the small group of students she'd never seen, wearing the neutral all-black uniforms, standing at the back of the room.

"Seven foreign students join us today for the Ministerial Educational Taskforce's student exchange program. They will be sorted into Houses and I encourage you to welcome them to your school sincerely. First, in first year, from Accedemia Reale Magica in Italy, Angelo Marino." A small boy ran up to the front from the group of students and was placed in Hufflepuff.

"They aren't just taking the place of whoever left?" Rose asked in a whisper.

"Well, no, I mean, they could be a different gender," James pointed out, and Rose nodded. A second-year girl from Koldovstoretz was put in Slytherin and a girl from Castelobruxo in Brazil was put in Hufflepuff.

"In fourth year, from Salem Magical Institute in America, Margaret Olson." A girl with olive skin and dark brown eyes walked right up to the Hat and was put into Gryffindor very quickly. The table cheered as she figured out where she was going and walked down to the table. Rose saw her looking at them and realized that Scorpius's seat was one of the only ones empty at the table, and certainly the closest one to her. Rose gestured to the seat and the girl smiled gratefully, sitting down. No one said anything until the Sorting was finished, with the only other new Gryffindor being a sixth year from Beauxbatons. When the noise started to rise in the Great Hall again, the girl smiled a little again.

"Uh, hi, I'm Maggie," she said, and Rose tried not to hold it against her that she had very literally taken Scorpius's place. "Though I guess you all know my name, your principal just called it out to everyone."

"Hi, I'm Al," Al said, ignoring the rest of their momentary confusion at 'principal', Rose quickly gathering it meant headmaster. "Al Potter. I'm in your year. That's my brother James and his friend Harry next to me."

"Hi," Maggie said, leaning over to see them.

"I'm Rose Weasley," Rose said, forcing herself to get over her completely unfounded wariness. "I'm Al and James's cousin. So're Min and Roxanne. Min and I are in your year, too, but Roxanne's a year younger." Min and Roxanne waved and Maggie looked surprised.

"You're all cousins?" she asked. She seemed to have some kind of lightbulb go off in her head. "Hold on, I'm not crazy, right? You're the Potter and Weasley families? We learned about you in World Wizarding History last year. Well, your parents, I guess. That's so cool!"

"Er, thanks," Rose said, smiling a little. "So, er, where is Salem?"

"It's in Salem, Massachusetts," she explained. "Well, uh, Massachusetts is a state on the little tip that sticks out of the east side of the U.S.?" Rose nodded, vaguely remembering it from a geography unit in Year 5 at Muggle school. "Okay, well, it's sort of a medium-sized city. We're hidden in the woods though. It used to be some rich Muggleborn's property and she hid people in it during the witch trials in Salem. She was one of the founders, too, about ten years later."

"Do you have Houses?" Al asked, and she nodded.

"Uh-huh. I was in Andover, which I think is kind of like Gryffindor. From what your Hat said. We're all about bravery and individuality and stuff."

"Yeah, that's pretty much Gryffindor. Do you play Quidditch? We've got a spot open now," Rose said, trying not to sound bitter.

"Yeah, we have Quidditch. Have you heard of the Fitchburg Finches?" Rose and Al shook their heads, but James interjected excitedly.

"Won the North American League seven years in a row in the 2000s?" Maggie nodded. "They're brilliant!"

"They practice about twenty minutes from our school, we go to watch sometimes," Maggie said. "I don't play, but I like to watch. We have Quodpot, too, though. I'm sure you don't. It's got exploding Quaffles, we aren't technically allowed to play it on campus, but people still do."

"Well, Rose, James, Harry and I play on the Gryffindor team," Al said. "So you should come watch."

"Yeah, sure," Maggie said. "Uh, so do you know where my room is? Do we sleep in Houses?"

"Yep, Gryffindor Tower on the seventh floor," Rose told her. "Just come with me, actually, you're in my room."

"Oh, okay, great," Maggie said. "So I just got my schedule and it says I've got to pick two electives?"

"Pick Arithmancy and Muggle Studies, you'll be with me and Rose," Al said. "Well, actually, don't pick Muggle Studies, it's rubbish this year. The Ministry won't stop mucking up the curriculum. So pick Runes, you'll be with Rose; or you could pick Divination, that's an easy O."

"Uh, okay," Maggie said, "I guess Divination?"

"Cool," Al said. "So you'll have basically the same schedule as me, and Rose just has a couple different classes."

The rest of the night progressed fairly casually, without Maggie talking that much about anything but small talk, and when the feast was over, Al went up to the tower with James and Harry, and Rose was left with Maggie.

"Hey, so you're my guide?" Maggie asked.

"Yeah, I suppose," she said. Maggie followed her out of the Great Hall and up the first staircase. Rose felt more awkward around her than anyone else; she didn't want to be stuck with her, she wanted to be alone so she could write a letter to Scorpius.

"The staircases move?" Maggie asked, bringing Rose out of her internal thoughts.

"Oh, er, yeah, they don't at Salem?" she asked. Maggie shook her head, staring at the shifting stairs all the way up the eight floors of the castle. When they reached the common room, Rose said, "Hippogriff." Maggie looked at her in confusion and the Fat Lady said, "That's changed."

Just then, Alice arrived with the Beauxbatons boy and rolled her eyes at the portrait. "It's Bubotuber now," Alice said. "There's a password," she explained to the Beauxbatons boy, and Rose turned to see that Maggie had heard. The Fat Lady swung the portrait hole open and they all stepped into the common room.

"Come on, we're up here," Rose said. "They've moved your things, don't worry." Maggie followed her up the steps to the fourth year girls' dormitory. When they entered, she started to introduce herself to the others and Rose slipped away to the bathroom. She quickly got ready for bed, trying not to make too much noise, and passed Maggie having a conversation with Min and Ariana. She sat in her bed and tried to distract herself with a book, but eventually couldn't anymore. She rolled over and closed her curtains, hoping she could at least sleep without thinking about Scorpius.

She did sleep for a few hours, but Rose woke up at what she guessed to be a little after midnight. She wasn't sure what had woken her up, but she knew as soon as the events of the day flooded back into her head that she wouldn't be going back to sleep for a while. She sighed and sat up, leaning her head against the headboard, and after a few minutes she couldn't wait any longer. She pulled her curtains open just enough so she could lean over onto her bedside table and took a quill and parchment. She dug around in her trunk for her wand as quietly as she could, and whispered, " _Lumos_." She pulled her supplies into her bed and closed the curtains again. Trying very hard not to wake anyone else up, she began to write.

5-1-2021

Scorpius,

She couldn't think of anything to say.

"Are you up, Rose?" a voice whispered from the other side of the room. An American voice. Rose opened her curtains and whispered, "Maggie?"

"Hi," she said, and Rose heard someone walking over to her bed. Maggie soon became illuminated in Rose's wand light as she sat down on the windowsill between Rose's bed and the door. "I couldn't sleep. I've felt kinda funny since I got here."

"Must be the time difference," Rose said.

"Yeah, it feels like I should be eating dinner now or something, not sleeping," she said, and Rose realized that Scorpius was at a different feast thousands of miles away.

"Right," Rose said quietly, looking down at the letter.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Maggie asked, looking down at the letter.

"I'm writing a letter," she said, realizing how short she'd sounded as she said it.

"Okay, who left?" Maggie asked. Rose looked up at her and she shrugged. "I mean, whose place am I taking? Your boyfriend or something?"

"No, no," Rose said quickly, "he's just… my friend. My best friend."

"And he didn't tell you he was leaving?" Maggie asked.

"No," Rose muttered. Maggie frowned.

"Sorry. So you're writing an angry letter?"

"No… well, I don't know. I mean, I am angry at him… sort of. Scorpius, he… had a lot going on. I just wish he'd told me… sorry, you don't need to hear all this," Rose said, laughing a little. "I'm just being stupid."

"It's fine, actually, it's more than fine. I kind of want to know what I'm walking into here. Anything else I should know?"

"Well, I don't think so," Rose said quickly, avoiding mentioning the Army. "Er, I hardly know anything about you, though."

"Sure, okay. Uh, I'm from Boston… that's another city in Massachusetts… both my parents were wizards, and they taught me some wandless magic before I got to school…"

"Hold on, wandless magic?" Rose asked, eyes widening. She'd never heard of this being done before except by extremely powerful wizards.

"Oh, you only have European magic, don't you?" Maggie asked. "Wow, okay, so I'm Seneca… Native American… and the line between wizard and Muggle is a little more blurred in our culture, so we still get taught some old magic from our ancestors. The European American wizards don't really like that, though. They only really teach European magic in school, but there are electives. It's a lot better now, but people used to be attacked and hunted down by crazies for it. Kind of like your blood thing."

"Is blood purity not a problem over there?" Rose asked. The idea seemed so strange to her she could hardly imagine it.

"Not as much, there are a lot more No-Maj-born wizards in America-Muggleborns," she added when she saw Rose's confusion. "The pureblood wizards actually used to hate wizards, sounds crazy but it's true; there was a lot of conflict with Scourers in the 17th century but they've died out a lot by now. There are still a couple extremists but no one's ever, like, imposed a terrorist regime or anything," Maggie said. "…Uh, speaking of which, are you really one of _the_ Weasleys?"

"Well, yeah. And Al and James are Harry Potter's sons, but don't make a big deal out of that, Al doesn't like it," Rose said. "But yes, I'm Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger's daughter."

"That's really cool but I'll shut up about it. I'm sure you don't want to hear about it all the time," Maggie said and Rose nodded.

"Thanks."

"Well, I'll let you get back to writing to… sorry, what's his name?"

"Scorpius."

Maggie raised an eyebrow. "Scorpius?"

"It's a constellation. Pureblood thing," Rose explained, shrugging. "And I'm actually going to go to bed. I'll write to him tomorrow."

"Okay. Good night, Rose."

"Good night."


	15. The Next Army Meeting

**Hi everyone! Thanks so much for reading, sorry it took so long to update! New chapters soon! -Kelly**

CHAPTER 15

THE NEXT ARMY MEETING

6-1-2021

Scorpius,

Why didn't you tell me you were leaving? You can't just move continents and not tell your best friends. Is something wrong? I think if it'd just been for the experience of foreign study you would have told me. I mean, I hope you're well and you like it and everything, but please try to get back to me. I hope this owl doesn't die over the Atlantic, but it'll be your fault if it does.

Rose

16-1-2021

Rose,

I do like it here, a lot, it's different but in a good way. We're in the middle of a city, it's this old manor some rich Muggle left to his witch granddaughter. There are still four houses; I'm in Andover, which is sort of like Gryffindor I think. They've got Quidditch but it's not as popular as it is in Britain. I miss you all, though. People like me here, Rose. No one's even heard of my family. It's a nice change. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I just didn't want to upset you. It's not about you being my best friend—I told Al, after all. Nothing's wrong. It'd be great if you didn't always assume the worst.

Scorpius

27-1-2021

Scorpius,

I can't believe you told Al and not me. you can't just up and leave for five bloody months and only tell _some_ people. And even then, why Al and not me? I've been there for you way more than Al. If you think that's worth nothing then maybe you should stop talking to me like you obviously meant to.

Rose

8-2-2021

It's not that simple. But fine. If that's what you want.

January at Hogwarts brought the usual blizzards and no one dared to go on the Hogsmeade trip for that month. However, when one was announced to be on the weekend of Valentine's Day, the majority of the school seemed to forget about the raging tundra that lay outside and gossip abounded about who was going with whom. Rose, as usual, elected to ignore all of this until Al received owl post at breakfast two days before the trip.

"Who's it from?" Rose asked, noticing his wariness to open it.

"Is it from your mum? What did you do?" Emma asked.

"No, it's not," he said. "Er, I've got to go, class, you know…"

"Al, we're in the same class and we have twenty minutes," Rose said. "Who's it from?"

Al looked extremely uncomfortable. "Er… it's from Scorpius."

"What?" Rose asked, surprised. No one had really dared to say his name around her recently, and while she was a little annoyed that they seemed to be implying some kind of a breakup had happened, she was secretly relieved. She could almost forget about him and how much of an arse he was.

"Well, I still talk to him!" Al exclaimed, suddenly defensive. "Not everyone had a falling out for the ages with him."

"You didn't because he told you he'd be gone, that stupid prick," Rose muttered. Al had begun to read the letter, trying to ignore her, and when he started laughing she couldn't take it anymore. "What does it say?"

Al looked up, a little afraid. "Er, you won't like it."

"What?" Rose asked, and Emma looked impatient as well at this point. Al sighed and handed over the letter.

12-2-2021

Hey Al,

Hope this gets to you. How's the Army going? I can't get the Prophet over here, but I bet they're still publishing the essays, aren't they? My parents obviously haven't said anything about it. Oh, also, Andover won our Quidditch game last night, which means we're even closer to qualifying for the final. I hope Gryffindor's doing well. By the way, remember that blonde girl I told you about, the really fit one? You were right about the accent thing. I asked her to go into town with me the other day and we're going out now. Her name's April

Rose didn't get any further in the letter. She practically threw it back to Al and ate her breakfast sullenly. She was through with being sad about him, so she might as well be angry. After a few minutes of obvious stares from Emma and Al, she stood up and said, "I'm going to the library before class." She stormed out of the Great Hall a little too noticeably and when she entered the library, found Maggie sitting at a table near the door and threw her bag down on the ground a bit forcefully. "Sorry," she muttered.

"What's wrong with you?" Maggie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Scorpius has a girlfriend," Rose muttered, and Maggie laughed.

"Your just-friend having a girlfriend makes you that upset?"

"…I fancied him," Rose muttered, even more quietly, and groaned. "Why was I so stupid? How much of a git do you have to be to leave without telling anyone and then brag about your girlfriend and… ugh."

"Okay, uh, I might have news that'll cheer you up," Maggie offered, and Rose shrugged. "You know your friend Aidan?" She nodded. "He just asked me what you like in a guy."

Rose's eyes widened. "No."

"Yep."

"What did you _tell_ him?"

"I told him we've never talked about guys and he should ask someone who's been here more than a month, but I think he's too nervous to go up to anyone he actually knows," she said, and Rose covered her face in her hands.

"Oh, Merlin, a lot of people thought he fancied me two years ago but I never really even thought about it. Is he going to ask me to Hogsmeade? What do I say?"

"I don't know, what do you want to say?"

"I don't know! I don't want to go out with him…" Even as Rose said this, though, she realized that she did want to go out with somebody, and if somebody was going to ask her to Hogsmeade, she might as well go. Did it really matter if it was Aidan? "Or maybe I do? I kind of just want to go out with someone…"

"Is this related to Scorpius dating someone?"

"Maybe," Rose admitted. "I'm not really sure. But Aidan's really sweet, and if that's true he's fancied me for a while now and it'd be kind of cruel to say no…Okay, I'll say yes."

"Um, are you sure about this? What if Aidan finds out you don't actually want to go out with him?"

"It'll be fine," Rose said. "It's just one date."

"Until he asks you on a second date and you think the same thing again," Maggie said. She checked her watch. "We have to go."

"When's he going to ask me?" Rose asked.

"I don't know, when do you see him? Where do you know him from anyway?" Maggie asked.

"Er, he knows my cousin…" Rose hesitated. She'd been thinking about telling her about the Army for a while now, especially since she started to join in on their complaints about the Ministry lately. "Actually, I'll take you tonight. It's a long story and I don't know if it's safe to talk about here."

"Safe?" Maggie asked. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Long story," Rose repeated. "Just come with us after dinner."

"I thought you have Charms club."

"I'm not in Charms club. Neither is Al or James," Rose admitted. Maggie looked more confused by the second and she shook her head. "Come on, we've got Herbology."

At the end of the day, Rose and Al went to the Army meeting like always, only this time followed by a very confused Maggie, and entered the Room of Requirement undetected. Most of the members were already there, and Rose went to stand at the front with James, Stephanie, Aidan, and Lucy as always. Maggie stood with Al towards the front of the room, the table being gone as if the Room could predict what their plans were for the day; Rose wasn't actually all that certain that it couldn't. Lucy walked up to Maggie and talked to her for a few seconds, then came back to the front.

"Could you get her to sign the list when you go back to your room?" she asked her, and Rose nodded. "All right. Okay, everybody! First off, as I'm sure you know, Yates has been completely mental lately, so we're going to have a real History of Magic lesson on the Pinkstone Riots next time. Today, though, we'll be doing some more defensive magic, since the Ministry seems not to care how much force they use in protests lately and Nott's been spotted again. James will be teaching Patronuses and I'll be teaching Shield Charms, so go where you need to. Got it?" The group nodded and dispersed. Rose knew she was supposed to be helping Lucy that day, but she couldn't help but want to go with James's group. Lucy noticed and rolled her eyes. "I'll get Tanner to help me. Go ahead, I know you want a full form Patronus."

"Thanks!" Rose called as she ran over to where James had already started talking to a group of the older half of the Army.

"So you've got to have a memory that's one of the best you've ever had. It's okay to use the same memory every time. So, everyone knows the incantation right?" They all nodded and James realized something. "Oh, wait, you've all done it in class at least once, haven't you? Oh, okay, so I'm guessing you want help developing it then. Okay, I'll just walk around then, go and practice." The students dispersed and James shook his head, walking over to Rose. "I'm definitely not a teacher," he said.

"You could be, you just didn't come prepared, did you?" Rose asked, smirking, and James sighed.

"Got me there. So Maggie discovered 'Charms club', I see."

"Well, yeah. Long story."

"Fine. Weren't you supposed to be teaching Shield Charms?"

"I want to see my animal form," she admitted, and he laughed.

"Wait, you haven't done it yet?" he asked. "You have to put as much force behind the spell as you can. It sounds like rubbish but you have to try to… push it out with your mind, I suppose? I dunno, people do it by accident when they're really stressed or something, try to feel desperate about it. Does that help?"

"Er, maybe, hold on," Rose said, and thought of her wand memory again while pointing straight forward and thinking as hard as she could and shouting, " _Expecto patronum!_ " She tried not to get too distracted and continued to think as much about her memory as possible while the blue glow erupted out of the tip of her wand again, this time forming very solidly into the shape of a small white wolf that ran around the room for a few seconds before vanishing.

"Well, damn, I guess that did help," James said as a few students had turned around and started to stare. "Of course you'd have a cool Patronus, I've just got a bloody stupid deer."

"You know that's the other James Potter's, right?" Rose asked. "And your dad's?"

"Really?" James asked. "Oh." He looked around at the students stopped, watching. "Well, keep practicing!" he exclaimed. "Nice work, Rosie," he added as he walked away.

"Rose!" a voice called from behind her, and she turned around half in dread.

"Hi, Aidan," she said, smiling, reminding herself that this is what she'd said she'd wanted.

"Hi," he said, and he already looked extremely nervous. "That was r-really impressive."

"Oh, thanks," she said, "I wasn't expecting it, honestly."

"Right, er, so I was wondering…" he looked at the floor at this point, as if trying to find enough courage, "i-if you would go somewhere in Hogsmeade with me for Valentine's Day?"

Rose pretended to be surprised and smiled. "Oh, er, sure! I'd love to!"

Aidan's face changed and he looked relieved. "Oh, brilliant! Okay! I'll, uh, I'll come find you Sunday at around lunchtime maybe? Three Broomsticks?"

"Yes! Sure, see you then," Rose said, and Aidan darted away. James reappeared then and watched him run back to the other group.

"What's Aidan so scared of?" James asked.

"The date he just asked me out on," Rose replied, and James gaped at her.

"Did you say yes?" he asked.

"Yes," Rose said, suddenly feeling a little defensive. "And why shouldn't I have?"

"No reason, I just… right. Okay. Brilliant. Er, if I ever have to kill him, I will. Not that I think I'd have to, because you could probably do it, I mean look at him, but you know, just offering."

"James, shut up," Rose sighed, feeling her ears going red.

"Fine, er, except Lucy wanted me to tell you… she wants to go ahead with that one essay you talked about?" James said. "I don't know any more than that."

Rose's stomach dropped and she nodded. She'd known in the back of her head that it was time for a while. "Okay. Tell her I said that's fine and I'm free tomorrow after Quidditch in the library."

"All right," James said. "Hey, should I be worried?"

"About what?"

"About this other essay."

"I… no," Rose lied. "Probably not."

"Okay," James said, not sounding convinced. "Be careful, Rosie. I'll see you around."

"Yeah," Rose said as he left. She walked around the Room until the meeting was over, practicing her Patronus and watching it run up and down the walls. She thought about what they were about to do and wondered if they'd be getting a visit from Nott this year after all.


	16. The Hogsmeade Trip

**Hi everyone! Thanks for reading, please review!**

CHAPTER 16

THE HOGSMEADE TRIP

 **EXCLUSIVE FROM AN ANONYMOUS ASSOCIATE OF THE MINISTER -#4**

 ** _(Note:_** **_The Daily Prophet neither endorses nor condemns the following notions and this essay has been published unedited without any representation of the Daily Prophet's views.)_** _The witches and wizards protesting in the Ministry of Magic against the International Statute of Secrecy are being purposefully portrayed as less organized and reasonable than they truly are. The group, who are called the Progressive Union of Wizards for Muggle-Wizard Equality, are led by Ms. Arabella Pinkstone and have very limited demands, which can be summarized in one sentence: for legislation to be introduced to the International Confederation of Wizards extended full rights currently provided to wizards to Muggles, including but not limited to the right to their unaltered mental faculties, the freedom of information, and entry into all public spaces. The group also protests the unethical treatment of Muggles as second-class citizens and to remove the Muggle Liaison Office from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, due to the implications present in such a position. Dissenters of these requests argue that in order to provide these rights, the International Statute of Secrecy will have to be repealed. While this is true, many wizards now feel that the Statute has become obsolete and has no bearing on modern Muggle society. It is the opinion of many, including the author of this essay, that that Statute, while necessary during the time of widespread negative and violent Muggle attitudes towards wizardkind, this is no longer true and secrecy only increases the distrust and detachment from society that wizards show towards Muggles and the fear and misunderstanding that Muggles who have discovered the wizarding world through a magical family member sometimes respond with. A repealment of the International Statute of Secrecy and extension of wizarding rights to Muggles would further strengthen both societies, provide allies that are now of value in wizarding conflicts due to the modern Muggle technology, bring the wizarding world into the advancements of the 21st century, and eventually rid our society of the obsession with blood purity that so easily produces violence and conflict in our world. In conclusion, the author of this essay supports wholeheartedly the protests taking place at the Ministry. Another essay detailing the withholding of information of the Ministry, as well as its treatment of the protesters, will come soon._

Rose sent the owl with her latest essay to the Prophet as soon as she and Lucy had finished it, two days before the Hogsmeade trip and found herself becoming incredibly nervous at breakfast, though whether her nerves were about the essay, her date, or both she wasn't sure. Al watched her struggling to put on her gloves as they walked down the path to Hogsmeade with Emma and said, "Are you sure you're okay, Rose?"

"What? Yeah, I'm fine," she said, and Al shrugged.

"Okay," he said, but Emma didn't let it go.

"Are you nervous? You shouldn't be, you look lovely. Besides, Aidan's fancied you since—"

"My second year, I know," Rose said, sounding a little more irritable than she'd intended. "Sorry, I'm just… I don't know."

"So where do you guys want to go?" Al asked. "Want to go to Zonko's? I think James and Harry are there."

"I don't know, I sort of want to go to the Owl Post," Rose said.

"Did you send out the essay yet?" Al asked.

"Yes, last night. I want to see if it's in the Prophet," Rose said. She thought her nerves would calm if she knew whether people were about to begin talking about it.

"Okay, sure," Al said. "But then Zonko's."

"Fine," Rose said, rolling her eyes. As they entered Hogsmeade, they were immediately surrounded by couples wandering around the streets, being especially cute and rather disgusting. Rose was astounded at the number of couples as she hardly ever saw them during school days. "This is mad," she whispered.

"This is why I hate this stupid holiday," Al muttered.

"Why, because you couldn't get a date?" Emma asked.

"I could've if I wanted to! Scorpius said—sorry Rose. Anyway, I'm over Valentine's Day, it's just gross, there's no need for all that…"

Rose couldn't help but detach from their conversation as they made their way to the Owl Post, thinking too much about the essay. When they got there, she ran right up to the counter and said, "Can I have the Sunday Prophet, please?"

"You're just in time, we just got the new issue. There's another essay," the man told her.

Rose came very close to saying 'I know' before stopping herself and saying, "Thanks," as she handed over five Knuts hurriedly. She read through the essay quickly and then handed it to Al and Emma. They seemed to get more and more surprised by the second, Al even more than Emma.

"Rose, this is… serious," he said, smiling a little. He lowered his voice before saying, "Does this have anything to do with you getting arrested?"

"You got arrested?" Emma asked, gaping at her.

"Er, yeah, long story," she said. "And yes, Bella Pinkstone told me to publish it."

"You met her?" Al asked, looking impressed.

"Well, of course. Did you honestly think Lucy didn't know her?"

"Good point," Al admitted. "So, what do you think people will think of this?"

"I don't know," she said. "I'm hoping it will be positive, considering a whole movement sprung up that had nothing to do with us."

"Hey, guys," someone said from behind them and Rose turned around and saw Leah Shafiq walking in.

"Hi, Leah," Rose said quickly, instinctively lowering the paper she held, but Leah looked at it curiously.

"Is that another one of those essays?" she asked, and Rose glanced at Al momentarily before nodding. "Can I see it?" Rose handed it over tentatively and Leah skimmed it quickly, smiling a little. "Wow, that's definitely a new direction. It makes sense, though, given the author's opinions before. This is brilliant, I'd love to see the look on Prince's face. Ooh, don't tell anyone I said that."

"You aren't offended by these?" Rose asked, confused.

"Nope. Er, don't tell anyone I said this, but this is really just an assignment. I mean, I like you all, but I don't necessarily agree with… well, I should probably shut up now. I just came in to mail something. Whoever's writing those, though, they'd better be careful. I'm sure someone's out for them," she added, suddenly sounding serious. "Especially if they go to Hogwarts. Well, anyway, see you tomorrow," she said, and Rose swore she sounded a little too pointed. Leah walked up to the counter and Rose left with Al and Emma.

"Did that sound like…?" Rose asked.

"A warning? Yeah," Al said darkly.

"I think they know, Rose. Maybe you should stop…" Emma said, and Al shook his head.

"You'd better not. People are probably just starting to listen to you, you can't just give in."

Rose nodded. "Yeah, I know. I'm just… it doesn't matter. Let's go to Zonko's."

Al perked up immediately as they crossed the street to the joke shop. Rose couldn't stop looking at the paper, and started to notice more and more people carrying it around as they walked around the town. At around noon, Rose said, "Well, er, I have to go…"

"Have fun!" Emma exclaimed, giggling, and Al rolled his eyes as Rose walked away as quickly as she could, wondering if she could pass off her blushing as a result of the cold. When she entered the Three Broomsticks, Aidan was already waiting at a booth in the corner and waved her over.

"Hi!" Rose said when she sat down, already feeling incredibly nervous, though she couldn't fathom why. _It's just Aidan_ , she told herself. It didn't help.

It did help a bit, though, when she saw that Aidan was at least as nervous as she was. "Oh, er, hi, Rose! Here, I got you some chocolate from Honeydukes, and I ordered butterbeer—you like butterbeer, right? I mean, most people…"

"Yeah, great, thanks," Rose said, and sat down opposite him in the booth. She picked up the butterbeer and sipped it as Aidan asked, "So, you've seen the Prophet, right?"

"Today, yes," Rose replied. "We ran into Leah, too. I think she secretly supports the whole movement. The way she was talking…"

"Oh, that's brilliant! Maybe there are others within the Ministry that support it. All we'd have to do then is convince them to publicly adopt their viewpoints.""Maybe," Rose said, "but practically everyone I've met that works with my parents or my uncle has been fairly conservative."

"Well, that's a little disappointing, but I'm sure there's some kind of shift of opinion occurring. We probably have your essays to thank," Aidan added, smiling, and Rose felt herself blushing a little. What was happening? She didn't even want to be here… "Er, can we not talk about that, though? I mean, I'm happy to talk to you about anything, but this is practically all we ever talk about."

"Oh, yeah, of course, you're right," Rose said. "Er, I hardly know anything about you, actually. Where are you from?" Rose remembered a little too late what he'd told her at the end of last year and almost regretted asking before Aidan smiled.

"Well, I was born in County Clare in Ireland but my mum and dad moved to Salisbury when I was about two. I'm one of six, so it was a bit crowded in a three-bedroom flat."

"Oh, I know how that is. Well, not so much the space, but—I grew up with my brother and James, Al, and Lily, so…"

"Oh, you live with them? I didn't know that," Aidan said curiously.

"Yes, and my grandparents."

"Wow," he said. "That sounds nice, actually. Big family."

"Well, you had that, too."

"Er… well, most of my siblings are a good bit older than me, so it was a little boring most of the time. We were very far out of the way from much more than some shops and a couple pubs around—have you been to Salisbury?"

"We went to see Stonehenge once," Rose said, nodding. "I was really young, though."

"That's about the only interesting object in the entire village," Aidan said. "And since I was also homeschooled…"

"You were homeschooled?" Rose asked. She had only ever heard of purebloods being homeschooled.

"Yes, for, ah, religious reasons," Aidan grimaced and Rose nodded, remembering now. "The whole rest of my family are Muggles. I'm a little worried about my youngest brother Joseph though."

"Worried?"

"Well, yes, er, they essentially, er, indicated that if I was to be a wizard then I shouldn't bring that kind of satanic behavior into their house, so I went to Hogwarts and I haven't seen them since. Joseph writes to me occasionally, though."

"I'm sorry, Aidan," Rose said, having more of her butterbeer in an attempt to escape the awkward situation that had arisen.

"What do you have to be sorry about?" he asked, seeming to be fine, to Rose's surprise.

"Well, I did ask," she said. "Well, er, how about now? Are you worried about your OWLs?"

"Yes, of course, but I'm at least trying to tell myself that if I study enough it will all work out," Aidan said, shuddering. "I can't stand tests. I don't think they really determine anything valuable about a person, and the fact that the OWLs determine the NEWT classes we can take which determine what careers we can have is a little horrifying."

"I know," Rose said darkly. "I'm only glad I only have regular finals for this year at least."

"Well, enjoy it while you can," Aidan said, smiling. His smile faded as he looked over Rose's shoulder, and she looked as well as Yates walked in along with Travers and a female Junior Officer she had seen before but didn't recognize. They walked up to the bar and talked to the owner quickly before being led around to a more private table on the other side. "What do you suppose they're doing?"

"I don't know," Rose said, shrugging. "I'm going to find out.""Rose!" Aidan exclaimed, shocked. "They'll see you!"

"Well… can you do a Disillusionment Charm?" Rose asked. Aidan blinked.

"Er… yes…"

"Good, do it on me," Rose said, and Aidan glanced around the mostly empty pub before saying something quickly and tapping Rose's head with his wand. "Thanks," she said. "I'll be right back."

"Okay?" Aidan said, sounding very alarmed. Rose snuck over to the other side of the pub and stood next to the booth where the three Officers sat, speaking quietly despite the privacy.

"How can we be sure?" Travers asked.

"We'll be sure when they tell us," Yates muttered.

"We know at least that _she's_ doing something," the girl said. "She disappears for hours in the middle of the weekend and I can't find her anywhere. Where could she be going?"

"It has to be her writing this rubbish," Travers said, and Rose saw that he was holding the Daily Prophet for today. Rose felt her stomach churn; did they know it was her?

"It could be Pinkstone," the girl said.

"The hell does Pinkstone know about what's happening at Hogwarts?" Yates asked.

"She could have an informant," Travers pointed out. "Weasley and her cousin got arrested at one of Pinkstone's protests. And she knew Shafiq in school."

"True. But I still think this is our best bet," Yates said. "Brianna, keep watching her Tower; I'll speak with her after classes on Monday. Everyone who knows her, too. All the officers from that group they had last year, at least."

"I would question her Mudblood girlfriend, too," Travers said. "But you're right." Rose barely kept herself from gasping. They were talking about Lucy, not her. "What about Prince? Should we tell him about this?"

"Prince has his priorities out of order," Yates said, shaking his head. "He's too worried about next year to notice anything. If we finish this for him, he'll appreciate it more than he'd say."

"What if we can't get them to tell us anything? Or what if it really isn't her?"

"If it's not her writing the essays, it's her doing something else! Something is going on, and I won't let it continue!" Yates exclaimed. "And besides, they'll tell us. They won't be able to help themselves." He flashed a phial of liquid at the other two, and Rose could tell even from there that it was Veritaserum. She returned to her and Aidan's table solemnly and tapped him on the shoulder, causing him to jump before undoing the charm.

"They know," Rose said. "They at least know that something's going on, and they think they know that Lucy's the one writing the essays. They said they were going to question us tomorrow, and they've got Veritaserum, so don't drink anything they give you."

"Does Prince know about this?" Aidan asked, shocked.

"No. They're acting on their own. At least that's what they said," Rose said, and Aidan nodded.

"We should go find the others," he said.

"Yes," Rose said, and they got up and quickly paid for the butterbeer before practically running out the door.

"I think they said they were going to Honeydukes," Aidan said, and Rose followed him down the street. He stopped before they entered though, and said, "This took an odd turn, but I'm still really glad you said yes."

"Oh, er, sure," Rose said, nodding. "Sorry about…"

"It's fine," he said. "Er, could I at least walk you back to the castle, though, when we're done here?"

Rose smiled and said, "Of course, yes," even though her mind was racing in a billion directions, most of them related to the Junior Officers and a few wondering when she actually started wanting to go out with Aidan.

"Brilliant, okay, let's go in, then," he said, and they raced in to warn the other Army officers.


	17. History of Magic

**Hi everyone! Thanks so much for reading, new chapters soon, possibly another one today, actually! -Kelly**

CHAPTER 17

HISTORY OF MAGIC

"So you think he's going to keep you after class?" Al whispered to her during History of Magic the next day, as Yates began to write the topics of the day's lesson on the board.

"I know he is, I heard him talking. He's pulling all the Modernist officers and Ava out and questioning us," Rose whispered back.

"With Veritaserum?" Al asked.

"Yes. It's completely illegal, I really ought to tell McGonagall, but… I don't think she has much control over them," Rose admitted.

"Anyway, where'd you hear him talking?"

"The Three Broomsticks on Saturday." Al grinned at this suddenly.

"Oh, yeah, how was your date?" he snickered, and Rose felt herself get very defensive for no real discernible reason.

"Actually, it was lovely, for your information," Rose snapped. Al raised an eyebrow.

"So what, you and Aidan are going out now?"

"I… don't know," Rose said, not mentioning that they were going for a walk around the grounds after dinner that night. She would find some excuse to get away from Al.

"So I don't have to hate him yet?"

"You don't have to hate him at all," Rose hissed. "You're not my brother."

Al shrugged. "Might as well be. James'll probably be worse."

"Well, yes, but 'better than James' is a pretty low standard," Rose replied, and at that moment Yates turned back around to face them.

"All right, so today we'll be focusing on the Pinkstone riots of the 1940s and 1950s," he said, and Rose was startled into paying full attention. "Some of you may recognize this name from the recent newspaper headlines concerning the protests taking place at the Ministry of Magic. These protesters are attempting to use this fame to promote their own cause, due to their leader being the granddaughter of the Pinkstone we will concern ourselves with today. I must warn you that whatever these protesters may try to say, the causes promoted by both eras of Pinkstone insurgency are biased and ridiculous claims. We will begin by describing the leader, Carlotta Pinkstone. Ms. Pinkstone was born in the year 1920 in Glasgow, and at age 18 graduated from Hogwarts school and immediately began campaigning against the laws that hold together our entire society. While she believed that it was for the best, she showed no respect for the Ministry or trust in the system which had been in place since centuries before she was born." Rose noticed a shape in the corner of the room and saw that Professor Binns was lurking around the edges of the room, as he had taken to doing for the past month or so. He looked even more angry than before, and Rose was beginning to notice that he became angrier when Yates was teaching something that wasn't accurate, and smiled a little as Yates glanced over at him nervously before continuing his lecture. After he ranted about the original Pinkstone protests for most of the class, with many references to the protests from this year, he said, "So as you can see, there are several parallels between these two events, and if anyone has any questions regarding this lesson—" Rose shot her hand up before he could say another word and he looked very annoyed as he said, "Miss Weasley?"

"I was wondering if you could provide us with evidence as to the violent nature you claim that the protests have taken on?" The class was silent and Yates raised his eyebrows.

"Well, I can assure you, Miss Weasley, my lectures are thoroughly fact-checked and reliable."

"With all due respect, sir," she forced herself to say, "I'm not sure that's the case. For example, it's concrete fact that the Ministry didn't support the Order of the Phoenix until well into 1996, whereas you told us it was spring of 1995, when in fact the Ministry began a campaign against Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore for over a year before accepting—"

"That is enough, Miss Weasley," Yates interrupted loudly. "The Ministry has always been firmly opposed to and actively working against individuals such as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named—"

Rose had had enough and said, "You can say Voldemort, sir, he's dead." Some of the class looked completely shocked that she had said his name, including Yates, while others, like Al, were trying not to laugh as Yates stood in front of them, bewildered.

"Miss Weasley, I would like to see you in my office after classes today," he said shortly.

"Professor, you never answered my question."

"Did you interrogate Professor Binns about his teaching methods?" Yates asked pointedly.

"We didn't have to, he always presented historical texts to support his claims!" Rose exclaimed, and saw what she thought might be a smile appear on Professor Binns's face from the corner of the room.

"Miss Weasley, I imagine that _your arrest_ would be proof enough to you!" he exclaimed, and the class fell into a stunned silence again.

"I've stated, and my mother and my cousin have too, that that arrest was illegal and unfounded, and that should be proof enough to _you_ that any violence you say the protests may be sparking is completely false—"

"Detention!" he called out, and Rose stopped mid-sentence, too angry to respond. "Does anyone else have questions?" The class was silent, and he nodded, satisfied in a way that made Rose so angry that she raised her hand again, thinking that if she already had detention it couldn't get much worse, but he ignored her. "Class dismissed."

As soon as they were out of the classroom, Al and Maggie ran up to her, astounded. "Are you actually insane?" Al asked. "You know he's already suspicious and he's going to interrogate you anyway, Merlin knows what he'll do if he has _hours_ —"

"Are you referring to Professor Yates?" a voice asked in a flat tone, and they turned around to find a very preoccupied-looking Professor Binns.

"Er, yes, Professor," Rose said, and he nodded slowly.

"…I am still a member of the faculty, you know—I technically possess a position at the library. I would be happy to inform Professor Yates that you are already occupied working with Madam Pince and I this evening."

Rose looked at Al in shock and said, "Really, sir?"

"I appreciate your support of me today, Miss Weasley. I'll inform Professor Yates. You'll still have to see him after classes, I expect, but the detention will be taken care of." Binns floated away without another word and Rose stood there, shocked.

"Did Binns just…?"

"Care about something?" Al finished.

"I guess," Rose said, smiling. "I'm still a bit worried about seeing him, though."

"He can't do much, just don't drink anything they give you," Al said, shrugging.

"Want me to tell Aidan you'll be a bit late?" Maggie asked, and Rose felt herself blushing when Al looked at her, surprised.

"You're going out again?"

"No! I mean… we're just going for a walk, shut up," she muttered, and Al started laughing."Sure," he said, and Rose rolled her eyes and stalked off to lunch.

After Potions that day, Rose met Aidan at the entrance hall where he'd insisted on meeting anyway. "I'll come with you," he announced. "I mean, he's probably going to call for me eventually anyway, and I want to make sure you're okay."

Rose rolled her eyes. "I'd be okay on my own, I've got my wand. It's not like he's going to attack me in broad daylight."

"Well, I'm worried, and I want to come with you," he said, suddenly seeming a little nervous. "Er, I could just wait outside, if you want."

"All right, fine," Rose said, and they walked up the staircase together. They returned to the third floor and Rose knocked hesitantly on Yates's door. "Come in," he said, and he sat up a little when he saw it was her. "Ah, Miss Weasley," he said. "Sit down." Rose sat in the chair he'd placed in front of his desk and watched as he reached under his desk. "…Professor Binns told me about your prior engagement; I understand, though I may decide to reschedule." Rose nodded, hoping that he'd forget. "I wanted to see you, actually, about an entirely different matter." He brought out a tea cup and Rose almost shuddered. "Tea?"

"Er, no thanks," Rose said nervously, and he set it on the table anyway.

"Are you sure? It's good for the nerves. You look anxious."

"I'm fine, Professor."

"I want to apologize," he said, and Rose's eyes narrowed a little, "about before. You're a very intelligent girl, and it's only natural you want to have control over your own education."

"Er, thank you, sir," Rose said, even more suspicious than before.

"I wanted to discuss if you have been seriously intending everything you have said in the past, or if all that is out of admiration for your cousin."

Rose was astounded and said, "Er, no, sir, I don't generally fight for anything I don't believe in." "Right," Yates said. "I have to say I'm disappointed. You're a very bright young witch, Rose, you would do well in a career in government."

"Honestly, sir, I think I'd be rather unwelcome at this point."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Yates said. "You could easily—redeem yourself, I suppose. Won't you have some tea?" Rose decided at that point that if she pretended to drink the tea, he'd accept her answers as completely true and brought the cup to her lips, careful not to swallow any of it before setting it down. Yates looked pleased and continued. "For example… I know that you're very fond of your cousin's ideas, but you must know that they're truly harmful to wizarding society, don't you?"

"Well, I don't think so," Rose said, but tried to sound hesitant, and Yates nodded.

"I know that, Miss Weasley, but I'm sure you must have some level of doubt. What if our entire world fell apart because the Muggles just didn't understand? Is there any reason to disrupt the peace? For example, if you knew anything about whoever's writing those nasty essays…"

Rose pretended to take another sip for good measure and said, "I have no idea who's writing those essays, sir, I'm sorry."

Yates looked disappointed again but nodded. "All right, then, but if your cousin's doing anything of that sort, you should really tell an adult. You shouldn't have to handle things like this alone."

Rose hardly stopped herself from rolling her eyes as she said, "I would sir, but Lucy's not doing anything. She's so upset that they wouldn't let us run the Modernists that she hasn't been able to do anything but go to that protest over the holidays."

Yates sighed. "Well, all right, Miss Weasley, that's all. Oh, and let Mr. Tanner know that he can come see me tomorrow after classes, and that he's not in trouble, I just need to talk to him. He is the one I saw with you outside the door, yes?"

"Yes, sir," Rose said, "I'll tell him."

Yates sighed and glanced at the cup. "Well… have a good night, Miss Weasley."

"You too, sir," Rose said, and could almost feel Yates's facade fall away as she left the room, feeling his eyes boring into her behind her. As soon as the door was shut, Aidan rushed over.

"Are you okay? Did he give you any Veritaserum? What did you tell him?"

"I didn't tell him anything," Rose assured him. "He tried to give me it, but I only pretended to drink it. He wants to see you tomorrow evening, by the way."

"Oh, wonderful," Aidan muttered. "You're sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine," Rose said, nodding, and Aidan seemed to relax finally.

"All right, shall we go?" Rose followed him down the stairs and out onto the grounds, hoping the whole time that Yates really did believe that she had told the truth.


	18. The Quidditch Qualifier

**Hi all! First chapter of the night, I'm uploading a few together, so there'll be another one in a minute or so. Thanks for reading, feedback is much appreciated! -Kelly**

CHAPTER 18

THE QUIDDITCH QUALIFIER

"I'll be cheering for you the whole time," Aidan said in an attempt to calm Rose's nerves as they walked down to the pitch with Al and Hugo. "I should probably sit in the Gryffindor section, to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure my House would appreciate my situation."

Rose rolled her eyes and said, "You've never been remotely interested in Quidditch before."

"I've been interested in Quidditch for quite a bit now!" Aidan said defensively.

"Yes, about two months, to be exact," she replied, smiling, "I wonder what that could mean?"

"I'm a supportive boyfriend, that's what that means," Aidan said. "If you'd rather I went up to the library…"

"No, no, come. And you can sit with Emma and Maggie in the stands if you really want to avoid Ravenclaw."

"Yes, thank you." Rose laughed, but she really was very nervous; the Quidditch qualifier match for the final that day was Gryffindor against Ravenclaw and started in about fifteen minutes. It was the middle of April, and everything at Hogwarts had progressed smoothly ever since Yates had been convinced that they didn't know anything. She had started to notice, however, that the girl from the Three Broomsticks, whom she now knew was called Brianna Williams and was the Officer that was in charge of curfew at Ravenclaw Tower, was watching her whenever she was outside the Tower with Aidan or sometimes Lucy or Lily. Travers all but ignored her in Muggle Studies already, which was probably a smart choice on his part, but she had seen that Yates was watching her more closely than usual as the weeks progressed. She had continued going out with Aidan, which she had convinced herself had nothing to do with the fact that she had gleaned from Al that Scorpius and this April person were still together. She did like Aidan, she just wasn't sure if she fancied him… she couldn't tell if she liked him in a friendly way or as anything more. She did know, however, that when they kissed for the first time she couldn't stop herself from thinking about the corridor last year during the party when Scorpius had… Today she could hardly think of anything, however, but the match. When they reached the Gryffindor lockers, Aidan stepped back a little. "I'll see you later, okay? Though I have to warn you, we might have to sit in the library again, I'm two chapters behind in the Transfiguration textbook on my study schedule."

"I'll find you after the match!" Rose called out as he started to walk away.

"Good luck, Rose! You too, Al!" Al smirked as he walked away.

"Study schedule?"

"He's got OWLs, you have to be organized to study everything you've learned since first year in only a couple of months!" Rose exclaimed defensively as they walked into the tent. Tom Wood was waiting to give his speech and they quietly sat down on the edge of a bench to listen.

"All, right, everybody. This is it. If we could just win this match and go to the final, that'd be brilliant, but that's not all. Ravenclaw won the last game at 190-20, so we have to have more cumulative points than them if we're going to go to the final. That means Chasers, score as much as you can and Al, don't catch that Snitch until we have four goals. Understood?" The team responded, nodding, and Tom took a deep breath. "All right. We can do this. We'd better do this, it's my last year, all right? Don't let me down."

"Lighten up, Wood, you've got the Arrows and the Magpies after you, I'd expect you'd be a little happier to leave," James snorted and Wood looked as if he was at the limit of his patience. Rose was sure, however, that James's comment didn't exactly help his nerves, since everyone knew that there were scouts from the rival teams sitting in the faculty box today.

"Come on, let's get ready," Wood muttered, and everyone walked over to the door, ready to be announced and walk out.

A few minutes later, when Alana started to welcome the crowd, Al turned to Rose and whispered, "I'm going to do it. I'm asking her to go out with me if we win."

Rose rolled her eyes. "That's likely."

"I'm serious!"

"Okay…"

"James said…I need to be more, er, assertive, so I'm… going to ask her out," Al said firmly, and Rose sighed.

"Taking advice from James is not something I'd recommend, Al."

"About getting a girlfriend?"

"Well, no, about keeping one."

"Oh. Well… you said she fancies me anyway, and Scorpius thinks I should—sorry."

"Merlin, Al, it's not like he's dead," Rose sighed. "Just that he's a git," she muttered under her breath, and Al rolled his eyes.

"Led by Captain seventh year Tom Wood, GRYFFINDOR!" Alana exclaimed, and Rose walked with the rest of the team onto the pitch as their names and positions were called out. They made their way over to the center of the pitch, and Tom shook hands with the Ravenclaw captain, Maria Goldstein, before Madam Hooch blew her whistle and they all flew up into the air. Tom caught the Quaffle first and Rose watched as he weaved through the Ravenclaw team and scored before the Keeper could even react. "Gryffindor scores the first points of the match! And wait, Ravenclaw chaser Joshua Clearwater catches the Quaffle, speeding down the pitch towards the Gryffindor goal, JAMES—Clearwater is blocked! Sorry, Professor." Alice caught the Quaffle from James and sped back to the Ravenclaw goal, where Rose followed her, but had to roll out of the way to avoid a Bludger from David Corner and threw it to Rose. As Rose started to finish the stretch to the goal, Alana started shouting about something occurring above them—Lily had seen the Snitch. Rose had no idea how Al was supposed to react to this, seeing as he couldn't catch it yet, or they wouldn't be in the Quidditch Cup. "Lily Potter races with her brother for the Snitch—what is Al doing? Albus Potter dives towards the ground, Lily following him—has he seen the Snitch make a dive?—the two don't seem to be stopping—hold on, what is Al—Al pulls up at the last second, Lily barely makes it without crashing into the ground—" Rose realized that she still had the Quaffle, and that no one seemed to be paying any attention to her, due to Alana screaming excitedly about Al pulling off a Wronski Feint without anyone getting killed, and started for the Ravenclaw goal again. Josh Clearwater, however, seemed to notice, and accelerated in her direction, eventually locking broom handles with hers. Rose couldn't get control of her broom back, and she was pulled around in a half circle before sent whirling around towards the side of the pitch and the Slytherin section, where David Corner aimed a Bludger straight for her. Rose ducked and the Bludger barely missed her head. It was coming back in her direction when Harry sped around to hit it in the other direction. "Foul! Foul! Come on, that's a foul!" Alana shrieked, and Madam Hooch blew her whistle a few seconds later. Her voice, magically amplified, boomed through the stadium. "Penalty for Ravenclaw, for blurting," Madam Hooch said, and Rose grinned as the Ravenclaw team cleared to make room for her goal. The Quaffle sailed past the Keeper easily into the middle goal. "Gryffindor 20, Ravenclaw 0!" Alana exclaimed, and the game continued. Maria Goldstein made a goal almost immediately after the Quaffle was thrown back into the game, and Al and Lily continued to search for the Snitch that they had now both lost. About ten minutes later, with no scores to show for it, Alice was hit by a Bludger and had to be removed from the game, replaced by Roxanne, who scored another goal soon after for Gryffindor. However, Josh Clearwater caught the Quaffle again and scored another goal for Ravenclaw, making the score 30 to 20. Rose caught the Quaffle from James after this and hurried down the pitch before she was met with Maria and Lucy blocking her way, forcing her to look for someone to pass to. Tom was gesturing wildly at her from behind them, and Rose shot up above Maria and Lucy before throwing the Quaffle as hard as she could down to Tom, who immediately rushed to score another goal. Gryffindor now had 40 points, and Al had definitely noticed, as he had now started actively looking for the Snitch instead of nervously watching Lily from a distance. Lucy caught the Quaffle from the Keeper then and raced down the pitch to narrowly avoid being blocked by James. "Oh, bloody—sorry—er, Ravenclaw scores, great. 40 to 30 Gryffindor!" Suddenly, Al took off in the direction of the opposite end of the pitch, and Lily sped after him, catching up to him quickly. "It looks like both Potters have seen the Snitch!" Al and Lily were side by side, both reaching out in front of them for where Rose could see a small glittering dot flitting around, speeding away from them. Al inched forward a little farther, and though Lily was right there next to them, Rose thought it was probably just Al's height that let him catch the Snitch a second before Lily could have. "Al Potter catches the Snitch! Gryffindor wins with 200 points!" Lily sped away immediately from Al and Rose flew back down to the ground, where their team was gathering excitedly.

"That was perfect, Al, it couldn't be better," Tom said eagerly when Al landed, and he grinned.

"Yeah, it was great," Lily said flatly from behind him. Al turned around, looking a little scared, and she shook her head. "Relax, Al, I probably would have done something like that if it were me."

"So you aren't going to tell Mum?" he asked.

"No," she muttered. "But if you ever try to kill me for a Quidditch match again, I'll hex you into next week." She stomped away and Rose laughed at Al's face.

"Mr. Wood, great match today," a man said, walking up to them, and Rose recognized him as Gregory Cotton, the captain of the Appleby Arrows. Tom looked startled and shook Cotton's hand, stammering thanks. "We hope we'll be able to convince you of a two-year contract—"

"Just a minute, Mr. Wood," another man said, who Rose realized must be from the Wasps, "we'd like to make an offer as well."

"Well, I'm sure he can talk to me for just a minute at least," the Arrows captain said politely before hurrying Tom away. The Wasps scout turned to look at the rest of the team and his eyes landed on Al.

"Mr. Potter," he said eagerly, "you showed a great deal of promise today; your technique was excellent. What year are you in?"

"Fourth," Al managed, seeming a little too shocked to form sentences.

"Ah," he said, looking disappointed. "Well, my name's Thomas Stuart, I'm with the Wimbourne Wasps; we'll no doubt be back to watch you in a couple of years. Have you considered a career in Quidditch?"

"Er, I dunno, I haven't thought much about any career in particular," he said quickly, and Stuart nodded.

"Well, you have time. But you should seriously consider it," he said, and before Al could say anything else, he had excused himself to find Tom. As soon as he was gone, Al looked at Rose, shocked.

"Did that just happen?" Al asked weakly.

Rose grinned. "Yes, and he's right, you were really great. Just try not to kill Lily."

"I wasn't going to kill Lily! She was perfectly capable of not crashing and I knew that!"

Rose rolled her eyes and said, "I know, Al. I'm going to go find Aidan. Oh, by the way, Alana'll be in the common room tonight, so…" Al turned red and Rose laughed as she walked away. She ran into Aidan directly outside of the Gryffindor tent.

"That was brilliant!" he said excitedly. "I saw representatives from Quidditch teams on the pitch with you…"

"They're after Tom and Al, not me," she said quickly. "I'm not going to even look into doing that. I mean, it's not that I don't love Quidditch, I just… don't think I would want to do that for years."

"Right, of course," he said as they walked back up to the castle along with the rest of the team. They walked together up to the entrance hall and into the Great Hall where lunch was starting to be served. "I'll meet you after lunch and we can go to the library like we said—" Rose stopped listening as she heard Williams whispering as she walked by to another Officer.

"Have you seen this?" she hissed, and Rose and Aidan looked around to see that she was holding a copy of the latest Daily Prophet, where another essay had been published. "This has to end."

"The article? I saw it," another voice added quietly about ten feet away where the Officers had stopped. Travers had approached them and stared at the Prophet in disgust. "We have to find what it is that's going on here and end it. Even if we can't find anything… we have to end it. There's no other way at this point."

"Are you sure?" Williams asked. "Did Yates say—"

"He said as soon as we have the opportunity, we should take care of it," Travers said darkly. "I for one am glad this will all be over. It's getting ridiculous. She shouldn't have been allowed to get away with it so long."

"Are you sure we have to—"

"It's the only way, Brianna."

"I know. You're right. Soon, then."

"Soon," he agreed, and they dispersed, leaving Rose in shock.

"Are they going to try to… kill her?" Aidan whispered, and Rose nodded slowly.

"That's definitely what it sounds like," she said. "And I'm sure they wouldn't mind getting rid of us too."

"We have to tell someone about this," Aidan said. "I really think we should tell McGonagall, Rose."

Rose did not like that idea at all, for some reason. She felt guilty for thinking it, but she knew that they had always dealt with things themselves and that professors rarely did anything substantial to help them. "Well, let's at least warn Lucy first. If the others feel as strongly about it, we can go to McGonagall tomorrow."

"I'll warn Lucy now. Do you still want to meet in the library?" Aidan asked.

"Yeah, of course," Rose said, smiling.

"Great. Well, tell James, ask him what he wants to do about it. I'll see you after lunch," he said, and kissed her quickly before going to sit at the Ravenclaw table. Rose waited for her brother and cousins to get to the Great Hall, feeling a little conflicted about her hope that they wouldn't want to go to the headmistress.


	19. The Invitation

**Hi everyone! Thanks for reading, and reviews are wonderful, as always. Enjoy! -Kelly**

CHAPTER 19

THE INVITATION

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Rose asked once again as she approached the headmistress's office with James. All the officers of the Army agreed that they should tell McGonagall about the Officers' threat, though they shouldn't reveal anything about the Army or the essays. Everyone had also agreed that it would be safest for Rose and James to be the ones to go to the headmistress, as the entire Ravenclaw tower was being closely watched. Therefore, that Sunday morning, Rose and her cousin had left Gryffindor Tower for the headmistress's office, Rose growing more and more apprehensive with every step.

"I think it's the best shot we have at this point, Rosie," James said seriously. "I'm not sure this is something we can handle. We can't fight the Ministry, not physically."

"How are we going to keep the Army a secret?" Rose asked.

James sighed and shrugged as the gargoyle let them up the spiral staircase leading to McGonagall's office. When they reached the large door at the top, they were surprised to find it cracked open. Rose glanced at James nervously and pushed open the door a bit. "Er, hello? Professor?"

"You two. Breaking in again, I see?" a voice called out from somewhere up near the ceiling, and Rose saw that the portrait of Phineas Black was sneering down at them.

"Door was open," James said, rolling his eyes. "Where's McGonagall?"

"She's not available right now," Phineas said. "Do you have an appointment?"

"Er, no," Rose said.

"Of course you don't. You're all so entitled, you can't just go around demanding the attention of important—"

"Thank you, Phineas," McGonagall said loudly as she entered from a back room. "Apologies, Miss Weasley, Mr. Potter, I was engrossed in a pressing matter. What is it?"

"We wanted to talk to you about the MET," Rose said, and McGonagall nodded.

"I expected this would come eventually," she said. "I wish I had better news, Miss Weasley, but I'm afraid my hands are tied. The Ministry is intervening the way that they see fit, and as we are not a private school, I cannot refuse, as much as I may try."

"We know that, Professor," James said. "We mean that we think a few of the Junior Officers threatened Lucy."

McGonagall looked alarmed. "Did they tell you this?"

"Well, no, we heard them…"

"And why in heaven's name would they wish to harm Miss Weasley?"

"Well, because of the protests," Rose said. "And they think she's… involved in other things too. We're not sure it's just her, either, they could hurt… a lot of students."

"I'm sorry to tell you two this, but unless you have proof, I will have nothing to present Mr. Prince with, or the Minister, to do anything about it. Do you have any evidence?"

Rose looked at James and said, "Well, no, Professor."

"I'm sorry, then, Miss Weasley, but I am not able to help you. Unless there is something you two aren't telling me?" She looked at them sternly over her glasses and Rose nervously shook her head.

"No, Professor, nothing."

"Well, then, I'm sorry, Miss Weasley, Mr. Potter. I'll be happy to ask Lucy's head of House to take care to account for her more often if that would ease your minds."

"Er, yes, thank you, Professor," James said, and they left quickly. James swore as soon as they had left. "I knew that wouldn't work," he muttered. "We have to go to someone we can tell about the Army."

Rose hesitated before saying, "What about Leah? She said she didn't agree with the MET most of the time, and she's young…"

"I don't think so," James said. "She's still one of them, we can't be sure we can trust her."

"So what professor can we tell about the Army?" Rose said.

James seemed to have an idea. "I know. Follow me," he said quickly, and Rose followed him, confused until they reached the entrance hall and she quickly caught up after that.

They reached the door of Greenhouse Three and hesitated before knocking on the door. "Come in," Neville called out.

"Professor Longbottom?" Rose asked hesitantly. Neville looked up from a large book resting on his desk and smiled.

"Hi, guys, need something?"

"Er, sort of," James said. "Can we talk privately, sir?"

"Sir?" Neville chuckled. "Must be serious." He saw that their faces didn't change and nodded slowly. "I'll see you tomorrow, Bridget."

The Officer at her desk in the corner looked suspicious. "Er, I'm meant to stay her during—"

"All classes," Neville interrupted. "And this isn't one." Bridget scurried away and Neville rolled his eyes. "What is it? Am I going to have to write your parents? Because you know I hate to get you guys in trouble, but…"

"God, please, don't," James muttered.

"We think some of the Officers might be trying to kill us," Rose said quickly.

Neville looked alarmed. "Did he threaten you?"

"Well… not exactly…we heard them talking, and we know for sure they're after Lucy, but there's good reason to believe it's all of us."

"You're going to have to tell me this reason you have. Have you talked to the headmistress?"

"We tried, but… that's why we came to you. We couldn't tell her everything, she wouldn't understand."

"…Well, I'm waiting," Neville said hesitantly.

"We started Dumbledore's Army again," Rose said. "Except we called it Potter's Army. That's why they're after us." Neville looked at both of them in silence for a few seconds before he spoke.

"I wish you'd have told me sooner, I could have taught." James grinned and Rose felt relieved. "When are you meeting next? I can try to find out how much they know, and maybe give them a false lead."

"You aren't mad?" James asked.

"Well, that would be hypocritical, wouldn't it?" he asked. "And besides, I'm sure most of the teachers would be on your side right now. You should hear Professor Binns in the staff room. Before, I wasn't sure he was capable of emotion, but he's been furious for months. And the things they're teaching you… does your dad know about this, James?"

"Definitely not, he's been defending the MET since the start of term."

Neville frowned. "I find that hard to believe."

"Well, so did we," James muttered. Neville shook his head a little and shrugged.

"Let me know when you're meeting next, when you can," he said. "I'll look into this MET matter as much as I can without them getting suspicious."

"Thanks, Neville!" James called out as he got up to go, with Rose following him.

"Professor Longbottom," he said halfheartedly as the door to the greenhouse closed behind them.

After lunch, Rose met Aidan in the library like they had planned, but was surprised to see him sitting with Lucy, both looking solemn. "What's wrong?" she asked.

Aidan looked up quickly and said, "Rose! Did you, er, talk to McGonagall?"

"She said she couldn't do anything without proof, and we couldn't tell her about the Army, so we went to Nev—Professor Longbottom."

"What did he say?"

"He said he'd come to the next meeting," Rose said, smiling a little. "And he said he'd look into it. But really, though, what's going on?"

Aidan's face fell again and said, "Lucy's just gone a bit mad, is all. I'm regretting giving it to her."

"Shut up," Lucy muttered. Rose then noticed that she was looking at a letter on the table in front of her, and when she indicated to it, Lucy slid it over to her. Rose sat down and read the letter, realizing quickly that it was from Bella.

20-4-21

(Could you give this to Lucy, Aidan? I imagine that by now both Lucy's and Rose's mail is being searched, and we agreed that you were the next most trustworthy person. Thanks.)

Lucy,

Rose should be quite pleased with herself. We've gotten loads of new people wanting to join. Of course, there are some who are still too afraid of the Ministry, but we're confident there's a silent majority. You've been in the press a lot, too, I don't know if you noticed; I think Skeeter's found the rebellious Minister's daughter a bit too entertaining. It puts you in a good position, though; you've got a platform. We're having a big gathering for our new members next Saturday, first of May, and it'd be brilliant if you would speak. I know you're in school, and I know they'll be angry with you if you're caught, but think about the bigger picture (I know you already will be). If you can manage to get to Hogsmeade by around 4:00, we'll pick you up there and Apparate into London. We could have you back at the castle by 9:00. Let me know your answer as soon as possible.

Bella

P.S.—Ask Rose if she'll write one more essay. It's been a few weeks, I think people want another one by now, and… ask her to make it as inflammatory as possible. The bigger the better. We need the publicity. Thanks.

Rose set down the letter and looked at Lucy in alarm. "Are you going to go?"

"Of course I'm going to go," Lucy said.

"Lucy, I think it's brilliant, you know I do, but they're already watching you, how are you going to get out of the castle?"

"James and Al said they can get me out under the Cloak with the Map," Lucy said. "Actually, I was going to ask if you would go with me."

Aidan turned white as Rose said, "I… I don't know, my mum was furious last time, and now that they're already suspicious…"

"It's a bad idea," Aidan finished. "That's what I told her. There'll be plenty of opportunities when you're not being targeted."

"I think they've made it quite clear that I'm always going to be targeted for talking about this," she said. "You don't have to come, Rose, but I'm going."

"We'll help you get out of the castle," Rose said reluctantly, and Lucy smiled.

"Great. You two and Stephanie will need to cover for me at the PA, though. Rose, you read the whole thing, right?"

"Yes," Rose said. "I'll try to write something, but I don't know if it'll be published by the time you have your gathering."

"I'm sure Bella will appreciate it no matter when it comes out," she said, and stood up. "I'm going to get started on my speech. Oh, er, don't tell anyone where I am at the meeting, okay? Or at all, for that matter. It's not that I don't trust them, only… Yates has got Veritaserum and I don't know how much I trust the younger ones to avoid that."

"Okay," Aidan said, and when Lucy was already a few paces away, he called after her, "Hold on, what about Ava? Can we tell her?"

Lucy looked a little guilty when she turned around. "No. She'll only try to stop me. Why do you think I didn't tell you I wanted Rose to go till now? Anyway, I'll see you all later."

"I don't like this," Aidan said after she had left.

"I know," Rose said. "It won't matter if she gets out of the castle undetected; the protest will undoubtedly be in the Prophet the next day."

"Well, it's her risk to take, I suppose. I'm just glad you're not going."

"I know," Rose said. "I can't believe she isn't telling Ava. She's going to be furious."

At that moment, Al stalked into the library and directly up to their table. "Prince gave me detention! It wasn't even me that—Collin ordered a Fanged Frisbee from Uncle George and I was walking back with him from the Owlery and he gave both of us detention next Saturday! And I still have to be alone with him for hours, he's passing on Collin to Yates, says he needs help grading or something… he said I should have been _more responsible_ as an older student. What the bloody hell does that mean? I reckon he was just looking for a reason to get me in trouble!"

"What about Lucy?" Rose asked. "Doesn't she need your Cloak?"

"It doesn't start until four," Al muttered. "I can help her and then go straight there, and I'll give James the Cloak to pick her up later. Oh, Rose, I forgot…" Al's face changed from angry to simply uncomfortable.

"What?" Rose asked suspiciously, and he pulled out a letter from his bag. Al handed over the letter and began to talk quickly as Rose stared at the familiar handwriting.

"He sent it to me because he thought you would ignore it, so please, Rose, just read it, he really means what he says…"

"Who's it from?" Aidan asked.

"Malfoy," Rose muttered, and Aidan looked confused.

"I thought you weren't speaking anymore."

"We aren't," Rose said shortly, and tried to hand the letter back to Al. He shook his head.

"I'm not taking it back. Please just read it."

"Whose side are you on?" Rose asked, and Al turned pink.

"I'm not on anyone's side, I just… ugh, Rose, this has gone on long enough, you're supposed to be best friends."

"Fine, give me a minute to read the stupid letter," Rose said, and stood up, walking over to another table on the other side of the library. Reading a letter from Scorpius in front of Aidan did not exactly appeal to her.

19-4-21

Dear Rose,

I suppose I'll start by saying thank you for actually reading this. I hope you respond, because I really want to know how you're doing. Al told me you're still publishing, and that Gryffindor's in the final… but I wish I was hearing it from you. You're still one of my best friends. I'm so sorry that you thought I was abandoning you or anything like that. It wasn't like that at all. I didn't mean to hurt you, I never wanted to do that. I didn't tell you I was leaving because I didn't think you would understand. I needed to get away. Everyone was talking about me, and the trial, and everyone at school knew much more about my life than I ever wanted them to, and I just couldn't take it. So I had to go. It wasn't about you. I hope you can forgive me. I miss you.

Scorpius

Rose felt all of her feelings for Scorpius that she had recently been starting to think had become feelings for Aidan come flooding back and started to feel inexplicably angry. She knew internally that she missed him too, and wanted to forgive him, but as soon as she had the thought, she became even more angry. He had ruined everything, and now he'd just made it more complicated. She got up to return to Al and Aidan, originally planning to give the letter back to Al, but at the last second shoved it into her bag.

"Are you okay?" Al asked, concerned, as she reached their table.

"I'm fine," Rose said, and he nodded.

"Are you—going to respond?"

"No." Al looked at her, seeming disappointed, and Rose wanted nothing more than to escape the situation. "I'm going back to the Tower."

"I'll walk you," Aidan offered, and Rose nodded as she walked out of the library with him following her. They reached the staircase leading up the next four floors to the tower and Aidan asked, "What did he say to you?"

"He apologized for leaving, and tried to explain why he did, that's all," Rose said.

"So why are you so upset?"

"I'm not upset."

"Rose," Aidan said seriously, "I can tell that you are."

She shrugged. "I'm upset for the same reason I was before—he left and didn't tell me. Now he's trying to get me to forgive him and I don't want to. That's all there is."

"Are you sure that's all?" he asked hesitantly. Rose looked over at him, startled.

"Yes, what else would there be?"

"Well… I used to think that he may have fancied you," Aidan admitted, and Rose shook her head quickly.

"No, no, not at all."

"So you were just friends?" Aidan asked.

"Of course we were! No, it's not… anything like that." They stopped in front of the entrance to the Tower and Aidan nodded.

"Okay, well, good because I… sometimes I thought you had feelings for him, and I'm just glad that you don't."

Rose decided right there that she was done letting Scorpius Malfoy ruin her life and kissed Aidan forcefully on the mouth. Aidan responded with startled enthusiasm until the Fat Lady coughed loudly from behind them. They broke apart and she was looking down at them with severe disapproval. " _Password?_ "

"I'd better get back to the library," he said, grinning. "Er, I'll see you tomorrow… or how about after dinner?"

"Yeah, of course, I'll find you in the Great Hall," Rose said, and Aidan walked back down the stairs as she entered through the portrait hole.


	20. Longbottom and Yates

**Hi all! Thanks so much for reading, feedback is always great! -Kelly**

CHAPTER 20

LONGBOTTOM AND YATES

 **EXCLUSIVE FROM AN ANONYMOUS ASSOCIATE OF THE MINISTER -#7**

 ** _(Note:_** **_The Daily Prophet neither endorses nor condemns the following notions and this essay has been published unedited without any representation of the Daily Prophet's views.)_**

 _This essay will discuss the oppressive tactics employed to stop the formation of public opinion within Hogwarts School by the Ministry of Magic. Since term started on 1 September 2020, the Ministerial Educational Taskforce has been working feverishly to stomp out any kind of ideology that leans towards the kind being expressed by the Progressive Union of Wizards for Muggle-Wizard Equality. Any curriculum that may have possessed liberal or even neutral notions in this fashion was promptly overtaken by Junior Officers, notably Mr. Everett Yates and Mr. Spencer Travers in History of Magic and Muggle Studies, respectively. Muggle Studies has become a blatant attempt at propaganda, and the progressive curriculum that had been introduced by Ms. Mary Creevey has been completely abolished. Students now, instead of learning how to use Muggle technology, are warned about the dangers of such things and forced to learn using a textbook from nearly fifty years ago. This is robbing students of the benefits usually reaped from a Hogwarts education. Students are supposed to be able to discuss with their contemporaries the issues that will face their generation during and after their time at the school, in order to form their own personal opinions without being overly influenced by their parents' generation. However, this behavior from the Ministry is an obvious and immoral attempt to deter students from what we may call a Modernist ideology, to use the term coined by Ms. Lucy Weasley and other socially conscious students in previous years, and promote an opinion that stands by the status quo. However, it is clear that the Ministry is failing to oppress this notion in the general public, as the numbers of attendees at the Progressive Union protests are only growing. Despite public opinion, the government is clearly suppressing any political view that disagrees with the one that gives the Ministry the most power. If the Statute of Secrecy is repealed, the Ministry of Magic will have to cooperate with the British Parliament as opposed to simply conferring with the Prime Minister on a need-to-know basis. If the Ministry of Magic refuses to stop treating Muggles as second-class world citizens, as inferior to wizards, then how do we differentiate between them and others who consider Muggles inferior to wizards, for example, wanted extremist Theodore Nott? And the question must be asked: if the Ministry refuses to give up its complete control of wizarding Britain, even if that is what the public may want, how can we pretend to live in a democracy?_

"You're sure this hasn't been blocked off like the other passages?" Lucy asked as they stood in front of a large passageway that had been covered by a curtain in the Room of Requirement. Rose had remembered something about the evacuation of Hogwarts in 1998 and they had contacted their Uncle George, who passed along the exact words needed to open that version of the Room without too many questions.

"Nope. It'll take you straight through into the Hog's Head," James said as she handed the Cloak back to Al. "Where did Bella say she was meeting you?"

"The Three Broomsticks. I'll just walk."

"Are you sure that's…" Al began to ask, but Lucy just shrugged.

"No one will see me, and if they do… well, they'll know by tomorrow anyway," she said. "Thanks, guys. See you tonight!" With a wave, she was gone, wearing Muggle clothes with only her wand and her speech, and Rose felt a small bit of unease rise in her.

"I hope she gets there okay," James said. "There's been rumors that Nott's still in Scotland, somewhere; have you read the Prophet today?"

"No, I don't get the weekend edition," Rose said, and James nodded.

"Well, there's some letters about your essays today, want to see? These people are bloody quick, they comment on the

"Really? Er, yes," Rose said, startled, and James rummaged in his bag before pulling the Saturday Prophet out and handing it over.

 **LETTERS TO THE EDITOR**

 _from Anonymous_

Ms. Potter: I would like to thank you for publishing the last of the essays about the Ministry's ongoing oppression of anti-Statute protestors. As a Hogwarts student, I feel as if the Ministerial Educational Taskforce is preventing me from receiving a well-rounded education despite what they may claim to be protecting me from. I don't need protection from a belief system, and I suspect that, as the author states, this is merely an attack on a belief that the Ministry just doesn't want to accept.

 _from Ms. Lucinda Travers_

Ms. Potter: I am writing to you concerning the series of essays that the Daily Prophet seems to not be able to stop itself from publishing. This filth being taken seriously and even encouraged by this paper is the exact reason that there are such a great number of young people being ensnared by Miss Pinkstone's propaganda. I would think as a mother yourself you would be more concerned with corrupting our young people with such a toxic ideology. ( _Note: Ms. Potter would like to inform Ms. Travers that she should refrain from insinuating anything about Ms. Potter's parenting methods should she not be willing to have a discussion about toxic ideologies presented to her own son._ )

 _from Anonymous_

Ms. Potter: Ideas such as those the author of the essays presents should be encouraged, not silenced, and I applaud the Prophet for not giving in to negative pressure. The wizarding community has not been able to have a free discourse regarding the International Statute of Secrecy arguably since its inception, and people should be free to comment on the government's actions without fear of retribution if we are to have a free society by any modern standards. It is completely reasonable for the author to be concerned as to the state of our democracy if this kind of behavior continues.

"I think it made a lot of people angry," Rose said quietly, still staring at the second letter, negative criticism always having left more of an impression on her than positive. "I hope I didn't put Lucy in more danger, them thinking it's her and all."

"Well, at least there are people who support you," Al said. "Though it's a little upsetting that they're all anonymous while that Travers woman feels free to speak her mind."

"Mum shut her down pretty well, though," James snorted. "And Lucy should have plenty of people listening to her. I'd bet you got her an even bigger audience tonight with that last essay. Come on, let's go back to the Tower."

"I'd love to, but… Prince calls," Al muttered. "I'd better find Collin. Four bloody hours…" He set off down the hallway and Rose went with James up to the common room to study before the meeting.

At fifteen minutes before 7:00, when the Army meeting was meant to start, Rose walked down to the Room with James, Hugo, and Maggie and took her place at the front of the room along with Aidan. "Hi," he said, smiling. "Stephanie's gone to get Professor Longbottom, she said she'd be back soon."

Sure enough, in a few minutes Stephanie and Neville entered the Room, while Army members were still filing in. "Hi, guys," Neville said. "If you'd like, I can tell you what I've found out about the MET officers, or teach some self-defense…""Er, I think teaching self-defense will be better today," Stephanie said. "Since Lucy isn't here, we probably shouldn't talk about strategy much."

"Why isn't Lucy here?" Neville asked.

"She's sick," Rose said quickly. "She went up to her room a couple of hours ago."

"Really? Has she seen Ms.—er, has she gone to the hospital wing?"

"She doesn't really want to worry Ms. Longbottom yet," Aidan said, and Neville coughed.

"Right, okay," he said, and quickly walked over to talk to James. Aidan looked puzzled.

"What did I say?"

"It's Ms. Abbott now," Rose said quietly, and Aidan's eyes widened.

"Oh, I didn't, I mean, I didn't know—"

"Rose?" Rose turned around and saw Ava standing behind her, looking suspicious. "Lucy's not sick. I was just in our room. She's been gone all afternoon, actually. What's going on?"

"Let's get started, everyone!" Stephanie called out before Rose could respond, and the group quieted down, Ava sitting down reluctantly. "You might have noticed Professor Longbottom's here; relax, you're not in trouble." A couple people laughed and Stephanie continued. "He's here to teach us…"

"Er, Revulsion Jinxes," he said. "Useful if someone tries to grab you. Everybody stand up and face me." As the Army members started to get up and Neville pulled out his wand, they all heard a loud pounding against the door, which seemed to be locking itself over and over. An anxious silence fell over the room as the door started to shrink, which could only mean that it was trying to keep someone out. A muffled voice could be heard shouting."In the name of the Ministry of Magic, I order you to open this door at once!"

Rose, Stephanie, and Aidan exchanged alarmed glances as the voice muttered an incantation. A part of the wall exploded without warning into the Room, injuring a few of the students towards the back, and four figures came quickly through the hole. When the dust cleared, they were staring at Yates, Travers, Williams, and Collin, dragged through by Yates and looking petrified. Yates looked dangerously enthusiastic as he stared at the students. "Everyone behind me," Neville said, and Rose stood directly behind Neville, along with the other officers, in front of the other students.

"I knew it," Yates said, and his eyes landed on the officers, looking at the four of them and then asking, "Where is Lucy Weasley?" Everyone in the room was silent. "Oh, please, don't pretend you don't know. This is undoubtedly her operation; what exactly is this?"

"Look," Williams said, pointing to the roll of parchment hanging on the wall. "Potter's Army," she read. "It's a list of names, too."

"Bring it here," Yates said, and Williams handed him the parchment as he shoved Collin off to the side, who ran over immediately to his sister. "Lucy Weasley," he read. "It's one of the first names. So where is she?" No one responded again and he rolled his eyes. "All right, fine. Williams, stay with the rest of Potter's Army," he said, "and Travers and I will take the officers for questioning."

"You can't do that," Neville said, "you'll have to report them to Professor McGonagall, and she will conduct her own investigation into the matter."

"You have no right to speak to us like that, Professor," Yates spat. "You are most likely going to be under arrest for enabling this insurgency. And we do not answer to Professor McGonagall. The old bat's time is finished."

Neville's expression turned even more angry and said, "Say that again."

Yates raised an eyebrow. "You will only make things worse for yourself, Longbottom. Now step aside."

"I won't let you take them," he said, and Yates stepped closer to him.

"Step. Aside," he repeated in a low, angry voice, and Neville stayed silent and unmoving. Yates stepped back a couple of paces and suddenly shouted, " _Ventus!_ " Neville cast a Shield Charm nonverbally in just enough time to block the strong jet of wind aimed for him by Yates, and Williams and Travers began to also cast jinxes at him. Neville fired back as best as he could, and held all three off for a while until James and Harry stepped in.

"Get back!" Neville tried to shout, but the two wouldn't stop, though Rose noticed that they were putting themselves at a severe disadvantage by not being able to perform spells nonverbally. Thus, eventually, a hex aimed for James caused Neville to stop defending himself and run over to protect him. Williams took this opportunity and sent a Stunning spell directly at Neville's back, knocking him down to the ground, unconscious.

"Coward!" James shouted, and Williams silenced him with a wave of her wand.

Travers grabbed Rose and Aidan, with his wand aimed at them, and Yates took hold of James and Stephanie. "Take their wands," he said, and Travers complied despite Rose and Aidan struggling. He handed them to Yates and he smiled. "Let's go to my office, then, it's the closest, I believe." They were marched out of the room forcefully.

Collin ran up to Rose and said quickly, "I'm sorry, he gave me this stuff and I don't know why, but I couldn't lie, I—"

"It's okay, Collin," she told him, and while she would have liked to help more, Travers shoved her out of the Room before she could continue. She looked back at the Room in time to see Williams closing up the hole with the debris until she couldn't see the others anymore.


	21. The Astronomy Tower

**Hi everyone! Thanks for reading! Enjoy! -Kelly**

CHAPTER 21

THE ASTRONOMY TOWER

They entered the History of Magic classroom and were shoved into the desks at the front, with Yates standing in front of them. "Lock the door," he told Travers, and he did so as Yates started to pace in front of the four of them. His eyes rested on Rose and smiled a little, seeming as if he had gone a bit mad in the last few minutes. "All right, then. Let's start with Miss Weasley; watch the others." Travers walked over to them as Yates grabbed Rose, simultaneously silencing the others, and dragged her into his office off of the front of the classroom. He locked the door behind them and shoved her into the seat. Yates opened a drawer in his desk and placed their wands inside while taking out a vial of liquid. "I suppose there's no harm in showing you now, you'll never be able to prove it. Prince will cover it up when he sees what we've done."

"You won't get away with this," Rose said, though she knew she was merely hiding her fear with bravado in learned Gryffindor fashion.

"I really think I will," Yates said, and attempted to force open her mouth. Rose resisted as best as she could, but he eventually plugged her nose and after a while she had no choice but to open her mouth, and almost choked on the purple liquid dripping down her throat. She knew that it didn't take much of the potion to produce the desired effect, and she'd taken at least twice of the needed dose. "Where's Lucy?"

Rose couldn't do anything to stop the words coming out of her mouth as she said, "London, at the protest."

"Pinkstone's?"

"Yes."

"All right, then. We'll be on our way. I'd better knock you out, though." Rose quickly had an idea and made the only plea for help she could think of.

 _Al, Yates trapped us in his office, he's going to kill Lucy._

Yates forced her to drink another phial of liquid, this one a deep blue, and Rose recognized it as a Sleeping Draught before she slipped into a deep sleep.

When she immediately saw the inside of the Potions classroom, she knew that she must have entered Al's mind. Al snapped his head up from the desk, alarmed by Rose's thought. He glanced at Prince and said, "Er, Professor?"

"Yes?" Prince asked, seeming distracted. He continuously checked his watch. The clock read 7:18 p.m. "Have you finished sorting the fangs?"

"Yes, actually," Al said, and Rose wanted to tell him to tell Prince, that he wasn't in on this, but Al seemed as if he didn't know that. "Er, I just remembered, I was supposed to see Professor McGonagall tonight."

"Really? About what?" Prince asked.

"She didn't tell me, sir, only that I should come at 7:15, so you see I'm already late…"

Prince seemed annoyed and said, "Do you have a note for me?"

"No, sir, she didn't give me one."

He glanced at his watch again and said hesitantly. "Well, very well. I… believe I last saw her in the Astronomy Tower? She was going to meet with Professor Sinistra, I believe you'll find her there. Come back as soon as you can, Mr. Potter."

"Thank you, sir!" Al said, and dashed out of the room as quickly as possible. He ran up several flights of stairs, so much that he had to stop to catch his breath more than once before he reached the Astronomy Tower. It was strange, watching this occur from Al's perspective, as he was a bit faster and a significant amount taller than she was. He ran into the classroom at the top of the tower only to find that he was alone. He was about to leave when he started to hear something rattling, a kind of muffled sound. He looked for the source of this sound and found that coming into view, appearing slowly, was a small golden ring rattling on the floor. A cloud of black smoke started to billow up from it, and Al began to hear a voice. The voice was speaking in Parseltongue, but through Al's mind, Rose could understand it.

 _Open the pathway, let me go through. Open the pathway, let me go through._

The smoke condensed until it could almost be called solid and a man stepped through. His face was hidden by a long black cloak, and he held his wand in a hand clothed in an emerald green glove. Al gasped as Rose realized that it was the Order of the Cobra. "Albus Potter," the man said in a deep voice. "You will follow me."

"Doubt that," Al said. The man shook his head.

"I know that you believe I will hurt you. But you're wrong. We want to help you, Albus."

"It didn't seem like you wanted to help me last year when you were trying to wipe out my family."

"There have been… developments since then," he replied. "Javius Orion was too quick to anger, not nearly logical enough in his methods. He gave us a great gift, however. You will be quite useful to us in the coming years, Albus. You must trust me."

"Well, not to be rude, but I don't think I do."

"That will change. Soon you will understand. Your father has done things that you would never believe. The only way to stop him is through you."

"So now you want me to turn against my father?" Al asked. "You're mad."

"And you're a child," the man said. "You don't understand yet, but with us you and your companions would have power equal to that of the Brothers themselves."

"Whatever that is, I'm not interested," he said, raising his wand, and the man laughed.

"It would be foolish to resist," he warned, but Al shrugged and continued pointing his wand at the man. He shrugged and sent a jet of light towards him, which Al blocked with a quick Shield Charm. He seemed frozen, trying to think of his next move, as the Charm held back a few more attacks from the Cobra man. Just as the Shield began to disappear, Al raised his wand again, his hand shaking, and suddenly a jet of purple sparks came flying over his head and blasted the man back into the wall.

" _Stupefy!_ " a voice called, and as the man slid down to the ground unconscious, Al turned to see Leah Shafiq, wand raised and out of breath, in the doorway. She crossed the room to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You okay, Al?"

"Leah—how—?" Al asked, and she smiled.

"Long story," she said. "I'll tell you while we get wherever you're going. What's happened? Did Prince try something?"

"Not Prince," Al said. "I don't think. Yates, Travers, and Williams, they've got James and Rose and—"

"Where?" Leah interrupted.

"History of Magic classroom," Al said, and she ran out of the room, with him close at her heels. "They're trying to find Lucy, and Rose thinks that they're going to be able to."

"Is this about Potter's Army?" Leah asked, and Al gaped at her.

"How did you—?"

"Al, I'm an Auror, it wasn't that hard to figure out," Leah said.

"…You left the program," he said hesitantly.

"Not really," she said. "I've been assigned to keep tabs on the MET by your dad—and to watch you, for that matter. We've been on the Order's track for a while now; we think they're working with Nott somehow. I've been corresponding with Teddy Lupin for information—I'm pretty sure Rose and Lucy have too, correct?" Al nodded and she continued. "Sorry we couldn't tell you, but we had to make it seem like we were on Prince's side, so he wouldn't suspect anything."

"Right," Al said, "but it isn't just about the Army, it's about the essays, too—"

"Rose's work?"

"Damn, what don't you know about?" he breathed. They had nearly reached the History of Magic classroom.

"Where is Lucy?" Leah asked. "Is she in the castle?"

"No, she went to the Progressive Union gathering," Al said. "She's supposed to be speaking in half an hour—"

Leah swore. "So Yates is probably already gone." They reached the door, where they could hear muffled shouting from inside. Leah ran up to the door. "James? Rose?"

"Who is that?" James's voice called out.

"Leah Shafiq, who else is in there with you?"

"Stephanie and Aidan—and Rose is in Yates's office, but we haven't seen her in a while!"

"Are they gone?"

"Yeah, can you get the bloody door open?"

Leah muttered, " _Alohomora_ ," but the door remained closed. She sighed and pushed Al backwards a few steps. "Get back!" she warned the people inside, before saying, " _Reducto!_ " The door blew off the hinges and landed with a loud bang on the floor.

Rose's eyes flew open and she was staring at the ceiling of Yates's office again. She quickly stood up, and almost immediately felt dizzy but made it to the door as Leah was running up to it. "Rose, you okay? I'll explain later, but I'm going to go protect Lucy."

"What about the others? Williams is with them in the Room of Requirement," she told her, and Leah thought for a moment.

"I'll send a message to Victor, he'll take care of it," she said, and quickly cast a Patronus to which she gave a message. The hawk figure flew down the hallway and out of sight while the students watched in awe. "I need to get you all to McGonagall."

"We're coming with you!" Rose exclaimed, and Leah shook her head.

"It's much too dangerous—"

"Are you really going to give us that crap?" James asked incredulously, and Leah hesitated before shaking her head.

"Fine. But stay close to me, and don't attack anyone unless it's in self-defense, the paperwork alone would be a nightmare. We have to leave quickly, though. Every moment counts, and pretty soon there'll be Officers following the sound of the explosion. If we get out now they might think it was Peeves for a while…" The six of them raced down to the entrance hall, and as they emerged out onto the castle grounds, headed for Hogsmeade and the edge of the anti-Apparition charms, Aidan slowed down to where Rose was running at the back of the group.

"Are you okay?" he asked. "What did he do?"

"I'm fine," she said, trying to forget about any dizziness that may have still lingered. "Just Veritaserum. I can't believe I gave up where she was…"

"It's not your fault," he said immediately. "There was no way for you to prevent that. How did Al know to find us?"

"It's a long story, we can talk later," Rose said.

"You're not hurt? You don't feel faint or anything?"

"I'm fine, Aidan," she said firmly, and he backed off.

"All right, just… you don't have to come with us," he said, but Rose shook her head.

"Of course I do," she said. This is my fault, she added in her head, but didn't bring it up; he'd only deny it and make her feel worse. When they reached the end of the grounds' extent, Leah stopped.

"James, you passed your Apparition test, right?" James nodded and she said, "Good, take your brother, and Stephanie can take Aidan and I've got Rose." They took a few seconds to get ready and she said, "They're at the Ministry, got it?" When everyone affirmed this, Leah held out her arm to Rose. Once she grabbed it, Leah spun around and they Disapparated.


	22. Grimmauld Place

**Hi everyone! So sorry it took so long to update, school has been totally crazy the last couple of weeks, but I'm finally on break, so I should be able to finish this book this weekend. Only two more chapters after this! Thanks so much for reading, and enjoy! -Kelly**

CHAPTER 22

GRIMMAULD PLACE

Once they arrived via Whitehall telephone booth, the rally was very obviously located in the middle of the Ministry atrium. Rose saw Bella standing with a few other high-ranking Union members, though she didn't see Lucy. "Do you have any idea where she could be?" Leah asked. "We have to be quick; I'm sure Yates and Travers are already here somewhere."

"She might be in the crowd somewhere, but I can't see her," James said.

"Do you want me to talk to Bella? She knows me, she'll tell me where she is," Rose offered, and Leah assented. Rose ducked around the members of the growing crowd in front of the leaders until she broke through to the front. Bella looked surprised but not unhappy to see her.

"Hi, Rose! Lucy said you weren't coming!" Bella exclaimed.

"I'm not—the MET found out about our group, and they interrogated us, they know she's here and they're trying to kill her," Rose said quickly. "Where's Lucy? We have an Auror with us to protect her but we can't find her."

"We haven't seen anyone looking for her. Who's with you?" Bella asked.

"Leah Shafiq," Rose said. Bella grinned.

"Oh, yeah, I know her, she's the one on the inside."

"You knew?" Rose asked incredulously. Bella looked a little guilty.

"Yeah, sorry, we really couldn't tell anyone. She wasn't even supposed to tell me, but I suppose she didn't want to lose all her friends pretending to be a Ministry suck-up for a year. But Lucy's hiding at Teddy Lupin's until it's her time to speak. She should be here soon, though."

"If the MET isn't here, I'm not sure she's safe there. We'll go look for her there."

"Rose, are you sure? Maybe you should let Leah—"

"It's my fault they want to kill her, they think she's the one writing the essays," Rose said quickly, and broke away before Bella could say anything else. She reached the others and said, "Number 12, Grimmauld Place. That's where she is. I think Yates and Travers might have found her."

"Let's go," Leah said. Rose grabbed her arm again and they all Apparated to Teddy and Victoire's house. As soon as they appeared on the street, Numbers 11 and 13 stretched apart to reveal the house and Rose and James ran up to the door. Rose knocked several times as loud as she could and after a few seconds, a muffled voice came through the door.

"Who is it? What do you want?" Teddy shouted, sounding nervous.

"It's Rose and James, and… well, it's a long story, Teddy, open the door!" she said quickly. The door swung open a few inches and Teddy's face appeared with a wand held up to her and her cousin.

"What did I get you two for your birthdays this year?" he asked hesitantly.

"What?"

"Just answer the question, Rose."

"Er, a Harpies shirt?" she said, still confused.

"James?"

" _The Weird Sisters 1994 Live at Hogwarts_ ," he said. "You sent it in the same package with the watch my dad got me."

Teddy opened the door the whole way and lowered his wand. "Sorry. Can't be too careful. What's going on?"

"The MET knows," Rose said. "They're looking for Lucy. They found out about the Army, too."

"Who's looking for me?" Lucy asked, as Teddy let them in and the others followed them inside.

"Yates and Travers," James said. "We think they're coming here. They don't know you're here as of now, but they'll probably figure it out eventually."

"Well, get inside so we can lock up," Teddy said, and once the last of them had come in, he closed the door and started casting protective spells. Rose followed Lucy through the hallway into the kitchen, where Victoire was sitting with a very large belly. "Vic, go upstairs," Teddy called from the doorway.

"I want to—"

"You're pregnant, Victoire, please don't," Leah said, and after a moment of silence, Victoire walked up the stairs stiffly. Leah got up to go help Teddy and Lucy turned to Rose.

"So they found out about the Army?" Rose nodded and she sighed. "Damn. How? Did someone tell them?"

"They were interrogated with Veritaserum," Rose said. "It was Collin."

"Bloody hell, so now they're going after first years?"

"Apparently."

"That should hold for a while," Leah said as she walked back in with Teddy. "But I don't know exactly how long. We should get you all back to the castle."

"I have to speak," Lucy protested. Teddy shook his head.

"Not anymore. They'll kill you right there."

"I can take care of myself, I'm an adult."

"Barely. If they wanted you dead, they could kill you. Especially if you were that exposed."

"Well, you don't think if I went back to the castle, they'd kill me there, too?"

Teddy and Leah exchanged a look. Leah spoke after a pause. "Well, that's probably true. We're going to call the Auror department, they can place you under protection until we're sure you're safe."

"I have to go back to school," Lucy said indignantly. "I'm not going under protection."

Leah sighed. "I know it's awful, but you can't just—"

"I'll wait for them and I'll defend myself."

Just then, they heard the sound of Apparition on the street. James and Al both shared nervous looks with Rose. "I expect you won't have to wait now," James said quietly. They heard footsteps climbing the doorstep, and muttered incantations. For a while, they didn't work, but soon they could hear the door starting to creak.

"Damn. Everyone get behind us," Teddy said sharply, and no one argued with him that time. He and Leah stood in front of all of them, and James pushed Rose and Al behind him as well. It only took a few seconds after that for the door to come flying off the hinges and land a ways down the hallway. Yates and Travers ran down the hallway and slowed to a stop when they entered the kitchen.

"Stupefy!" James shouted, aiming the spell between Teddy and Leah as Teddy looked back at him, exasperated, and Yates blocked it with ease.

"Thank you for the early notice, Mr. Potter. What has Rudomin been teaching you?"

"You're under arrest for conspiracy to murder by the Auror department of the Ministry of Magic," Teddy said, his wand raised at Yates's throat. "Drop your wands."

"Oh, please, Mr. Lupin, I could have you under arrest for harboring a criminal yourself," Yates spat.

"Yeah? Criminal, eh? Everything Lucy's done has been perfectly legal," Teddy said.

"Laws can be changed," Yates whispered. "What she's doing is direct insurgency against the Ministry of Magic."

"Against the Ministry of Magic's dystopian absolute power over wizarding Britain, maybe," Lucy called out, and Travers aimed a hex at her that Leah blocked before it reached her.

"You see? She admits it," Yates said, and aimed a curse through a small gap between Teddy and Leah to Lucy. Before she could react, it hit her, and she collapsed on the ground. She seemed to be biting her lip, trying as hard as she possibly could to keep quiet, but Rose could tell by the way her body was moving on the floor that it had been the Cruciatus Curse.

Teddy sent a series of jinxes Yates's way, shouting about how he'd be going to Azkaban for the rest of his life just for that, and Yates blocked them while Travers and Leah continued to fight in the same way. "Those essays are blatant insurrection and she should be jailed for their writing," Yates spat. "I only wish there was a greater punishment."

Rose couldn't take it anymore. Al seemed to know what she was doing before she did so and looked at her with wide eyes, shaking his head, as she called out, "She didn't write them! It was me!"

The duelling stopped and Yates and Travers both looked at her incredulously. "Miss Weasley. I should have known," Yates said. "Well, then. Your cousin is a criminal and so are you. Prince will reward us when we bring him your bodies."

"You'll have to kill me first," Teddy said, and Yates shrugged.

"That can be arranged. You and your blasted godfather both deserve to die just as much as they do. You think I didn't know that you had her on the inside?" he asked, pointing at Leah. "She would have been next. At this point, I'll kill every last person in this house if it means justice."

"We won't let that happen," Leah said, and Yates started the duel again. James turned around to face Rose.

"That was really bloody stupid!" he exclaimed over the noise of the fight. "But it's something I would do, so I suppose I can't be too angry. I'm getting you two out of here."

"We can't leave them!" Rose said, and James shook his head.

"My dad will kill me if you two die!"

"Really, James?"

"Get Lucy, come on!"

Rose ran over to Lucy, who was struggling to stand up. "Are you okay? James said we're leaving. Can you Apparate?"

"I don't know," Lucy said, "I don't think so."

Rose bit her lip and raced back over to James. "Take Al! Go!"

"I'm not leaving you, Rose!"

"Yes you are! Go! Tell McGonagall, call your dad, whatever, just get out of here and get help!" James hesitated before grabbing Al and Disapparating back to Hogsmeade.

"Stephanie!" Rose shouted. "Take Lucy! Go back to the castle!"

"Can't she—"

"She's too weak!"

"I can't leave you and Aidan!" Stephanie shouted from where she was partly hiding behind the table, partly trying to help.

"At least Lucy will be safe. I'll stay here, I'll be fine!" Rose said. "Go find James and Al and get help!"

"I'll keep her safe!" Aidan shouted at Stephanie. "Get out of here!" Stephanie, after hesitating a while, finally grabbed Lucy and disappeared. "Look, Rose, I know you're trying to be noble and everything, but maybe you should go find Victoire and get out," Aidan called out.

"I can't leave you by yourself!" Rose insisted. "Besides, Victoire can't Apparate, she's pregnant—"

"Okay, well, you need to stay safe! Hide somewhere, it's you they want! I'll be fine!"

"You won't be fine, you heard him, he said he'd kill you!" Rose exclaimed.

"Please, Rose!" Aidan insisted as they both ducked a spell, and Rose shook her head firmly, raising her wand.

"I have to try to help—maybe I can Disarm one of them—"

Just then, a jet of red light hit her and she blacked out.


	23. The Hospital Wing Visitors

**Hi everyone! Thanks so much for reading again. The next chapter (tomorrow) will be the last one, and the fifth book should start December 2nd. Thanks! -Kelly**

CHAPTER 23

THE HOSPITAL WING VISITORS

When Rose woke up, she heard voices before she opened her eyes. She recognized McGonagall's voice and kept her eyes closed, realizing that she must be in the hospital wing.

"You can't be serious, Percival."

"I'm sorry, Minerva, but my hands are tied. There is no evidence against him, despite what you say Mr. Potter told you, and I've already been far too lenient. If I fire Prince, the press will think I'm on your side."

"You should be on our side! We are talking about your daughter—and your nieces and nephews at that—"

"I can't appear to be biased in any way. I'm not expelling any of the students, and I'm "

"So Professor Prince will remain at the school next term?"

"Yes."

There was a long pause and Uncle Percy said, "Minerva, really, I'm ending the Taskforce, and Professor Longbottom only has to be questioned, he really should be fired as it is—"

"He was rewarded for the same actions twenty years ago!"

"It was a different time—we were at war—"

"Are you saying that we aren't now?"

Another pause and Rose heard Uncle Percy sigh. "Please, Minerva, let this go. I've come to consider you a friend."

"I wish I could still say the same. You are putting my students in direct danger!"

"…We still need to question Rose. You will inform me when she wakes up?"

"When she is ready."

"…Good night, Minerva." Rose heard footsteps growing further from her bed until a door swung open and shut.

"Miss Weasley, I believe you may open your eyes now." Rose sat up quickly, surprised, and immediately felt lightheaded, her head pounding. She laid back a little and winced. "Good evening. Though I think it might be morning now."

"What happened? Is everyone okay?"

"You were Stunned and received a concussion from the fall. You'll be able to be released in the morning, but I'm afraid Ms. Abbott must prohibit you from playing Quidditch in the final match." McGonagall shook her head a bit. "You'll be replaced by your cousin Roxanne, it seems; I hope she shares your skill. Er, Mr. Lupin sustained some injuries, but he is being treated at St. Mungo's and should have a quick and full recovery, I'm told," McGonagall assured her. "Miss Shafiq and Mr. Tanner are unharmed, as are your cousins and Miss MacMillan, thanks to you." Rose sighed in relief and McGonagall approached her bedside, taking a seat in the old chair next to the pillow. "I'm sure you heard much of what is happening now."

"They can't let Prince stay, he'll kill us! He's with the Order, he has to be! He sent Al up to the tower—"

"Mr. Potter told me about the Astronomy Tower," McGonagall said, nodding, "but as Minister Weasley said, there is no evidence that Prince knew that the Order member was at the Tower at that time. I should think that you would not want me to press the issue, as they would start to ask how Mr. Potter knew that you were being attacked in the first place." Rose tried to respond but McGonagall held up a hand to stop her. "It's all right, Miss Weasley, I've been aware of your situation for years. We searched through the effects of Professor Orion after the events in your first year and discovered his journals outlining the creation of the connection. It seems he had connected the three of you before you even reached Hogwarts. We aren't exactly sure how, but the Auror department is looking into it."

"That can't be—Uncle Harry knows about the connection?" Rose asked, more confused than ever. "We didn't even know they were looking into the MET…"

"You can't expect that your uncle is at liberty to tell you everything that he does with the Auror department, Miss Weasley, especially with him being the department Head." Rose nodded and McGonagall smiled. "I can assure you, though, he has always had your best interests at heart."

"So you know about the connection—do you know if it's dangerous? Aunt Lyra used to say that it was, but we've never had any problems… it's actually been quite helpful…"

"I'm not sure that the connection itself is dangerous," McGonagall said, "but it could make the three of you much more vulnerable, especially if the rest of the Order knows about it. We would like to have this issue monitored, but with the Ministry's current opinion that the Order does not have any kind of power today…"

"Why don't they believe Al?"

"I expect they don't want to believe that any threat to the Ministry is remotely powerful. They won't act against the Order until they see an attack themselves."

"This is ridiculous!" Rose exclaimed. McGonagall nodded.

"Next term I will teach the three of you Occlumency; it may be of some help in preventing whatever the Order's intentions with the connection are. Until then, I suggest caution." Rose nodded, not quite knowing what to say, and McGonagall stood up. "The Ministry will want to speak with you, and the Auror department as well. I would prepare a story that does not mention the connection; I'll inform the Minister that you're awake as late as I can manage." Rose smiled and McGonagall walked over to the door. "Good night, Miss Weasley; I should be going remove Mr. Dursley from questioning. I believe you have visitors as well, and I won't keep you any longer."

"Professor?" Rose called as she was about to leave. "They caught Yates and Travers, didn't they?"

"Yes, that's something at least," the headmistress said, nodding. "Though with Prince remaining I can't be too pleased. Of course, they're only insisting he remains at the castle; I'll make my own decisions about my faculty, and he won't be Potions master for as long as I have the power to prevent him from it." McGonagall almost smiled as she left the hospital wing. She was passed on her way out by Aidan and Al running into the room.

"Rose! Thank Merlin, we thought you might be badly hurt!" Aidan exclaimed.

"Just a concussion," Rose said. "You're all right, then?"

"I'm fine. So's Al, and all the others. You got them all out," he told her, and kissed her until Al cleared his throat.

"Er, yeah, so we were just questioned by the Ministry, which is mental considering what just happened, but—yeah, they're coming to talk to you soon."

"I know," Rose said. As Aidan started recounting what had happened since she'd passed out, she asked Al, _McGonagall knows about the connection. Did she talk to you?_

 _Yeah. She said we aren't supposed to tell the Ministry. I told them you slipped a note under the door and I found it going to the toilets. You should probably say the same thing._

 _Sure. Will they ask for the note?_

 _I said it got lost when we all ran outside._

"So we're going to have to deal with Prince next year," Al muttered. "I can't believe this."

"McGonagall said he isn't even going to be teaching, just…lurking, I suppose," Rose said. "But you're right. I can't imagine what he'll be trying to do. Do you think he was really trying to kill you, Al?"

"I'm not sure," he said uncomfortably. "The Order wizard… well, I—er, I told you what he said. He said I'd have power, it seemed like they weren't really going to kill me. But what were they going to do, then?"

Suddenly, Leah entered the hospital wing and locked the door behind her. "Hi, guys. Sorry about this, Rose, I know you're probably really confused, but we need to talk about what the Order wizard said to Al before the Ministry finds out you're awake."

"What do you need to know?" Al asked.

"Why didn't he kill you on sight? That's what I didn't understand."

"He was trying to get me to go with him," Al said. "He thought I'd help him fight my dad."

"Why did he want you to fight your dad?"

"He said that he'd done things I wouldn't believe," Al told her. "I don't know what he meant by that, and I thought he was trying to trick me, but…"

"But then?"

"Then he said something else… that me and my 'companions' will have 'the power of the Brothers themselves'… do you have any idea what that means?"

Leah shook her head. "No. But I'll look into it."

"You don't think he's right about my dad, do you?" Al asked.

"I doubt it," she snorted. "Your dad's the best Auror the Ministry's seen in years, maybe since Shacklebolt or Tonks. Do you have any reason to suspect him?"

"Well, no, but… I think I know what that guy was talking about. Rose, do you remember what Nott said last year?"

"About the Stone, yeah," Rose said, remembering suddenly. "He said something about Uncle Harry doing something with the Resurrection Stone, that there was no way that he could have survived… something, I don't know what. Does that make any sense? I mean, do you know what they might think he did?"

A man was suddenly knocking on the door quite loudly and Leah rolled her eyes. She crossed the room back to the door and opened it with her wand, sounding very annoyed when she said, "The Auror department is conducting its investigation, Minister."

"Ms. Shafiq, you are prohibited from speaking with the other suspects, we've informed you of this," Uncle Percy said.

"This is my case, it has been all term!"

"And you've been relieved of it," he snapped.

Leah glanced at them again and said, "We'll talk soon, then," before stomping out of the room and Uncle Percy smiled nervously.

"Er, Rose, can we talk?" he asked. Rose shrugged.

"Fine." She looked expectantly at him and he coughed nervously.

"It would be best if Mr. Tanner and Albus could leave for now," he said, and Rose looked at them, hoping they wouldn't protest. Thankfully, they silently got up and left the room. "Now. I'd just like to know how you sent those essays to the Prophet."

"That has nothing to do with this investigation," Rose said flatly, and Uncle Percy shook his head.

"No, it does, see… if we don't have those facts to include in the report then, well, it could look as if Lucy was the one who wrote them, and that would be… distracting to the point of the matter…"

"Which is to not make you look bad?" Rose asked scathingly. Uncle Percy seemed like he was about to speak again but Rose continued. "Well, then, I'm sorry to tell you that she told me to write them in the first place and helped me with a lot of them. So really, you come out looking the same."

"Er… all right, then, um, when were you mistreated by Ministry personnel during this event?"

"Er, maybe the time when they drugged me, twice, then aimed spells at me, tried to kill me, and put me in the hospital wing?" Rose answered, and Uncle Percy coughed a little.

"Right… okay. So at no point did Mr. Prince mistreat you?"

"Well, no, but he did send Al to his death."

"As it happens, Rose, there's no proof of that."

"I believe Al."

"Yes, well." Uncle Percy stood up and said, "I'm sorry, Rose, I wish I could do more. I've managed to stop them from calling for your expulsion—"

"You can do more. You can pull Prince out of Hogwarts," Rose said, and Uncle Percy hesitated.

"I'm sorry, Rose," he said again, and then he left the room, shaking his head. Al and Aidan rushed back in, but Rose started to feel dizzy, like her head was going to explode.

"What did he say to you?" Al asked, looking angry. "Probably exactly what he said to me. Bloody coward. Lucy's right. There's no getting through to him."

"You're right," Rose said quietly. "But I really don't feel well. I think I need to sleep. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Are you sure?" Al asked, looking concerned, and Aidan was acting the same way. Rose nodded.

"Yeah. I'll be fine, go." They reluctantly left the wing and Rose sank back down onto the bed, relieved at the quiet. A minute or so later, her headache grew for seemingly no reason, and Rose winced again, but soon realized it was from an entirely different source as a faint voice appeared in the back of her mind just as she was going to sleep.

 _You're all right, aren't you? I can't get through to Al. Please tell me you're all right._

Rose wasn't strong enough to respond. She drifted off to sleep soon after.


	24. Travelling Home

**Hi everyone! Thanks so much for reading this book and this series! The first chapter of the fifth book will be up on December 2nd, so follow me if you want a notification when that happens. The title of the next book is Rose Weasley and the Coming Storm. Thanks so much again! -Kelly**

CHAPTER 24

TRAVELLING HOME

Rose was only too glad to be free from Ms. Abbott's bed rest schedule in the first week of May. She was very worried that she had missed too much class to possibly be ready for the final exams at the beginning of June, but when she actually took them she felt much better about the whole thing, certain that she had received Os in at least of the core classes.

Leah and the other Junior Officers left the castle shortly after the incident, allowing for the teachers to cram all previously prohibited parts of the curriculum into the last month of classes. Rose was surprised that Leah never came back to talk to her or Al more about the Order, but she was sure that there would be more questions over the summer holiday. James was still upset about Ravenclaw winning the Quidditch cup, and while Rose was assured many times by Al that it was a completely fair catch of the Snitch on Lily's part that determined the game, she felt guilty about not being able to play, despite Roxanne's undeniable skill. She wasn't sure if she was disappointed to be leaving school for the whole holiday or nervous to be asked about that night by the Aurors, but she felt a strange sort of feeling in her stomach as she was packing to leave the afternoon before the end of year feast. Soon after she finished packing, she heard a quick knock and Min walked in, starting to throw her clothes into her trunks a lot more haphazardly than Rose. "Hey, Rose. Isn't it fantastic to be done with finals?"

"I'm so glad," Rose said fervently. "It's been murder, trying to study everything we learned all year and teaching myself everything I missed. I hope I didn't forget too much. I think I did well, though."

"I'm sure you were brilliant, as always," Min said, rolling her eyes. "You'll be top of the class again, not even any competition this time." Rose looked down awkwardly and Min added quickly, "Did you hear about the baby?"

"Oh, yeah, I did! I didn't hear much else, though—boy or girl?"

"Girl. Andromeda Fleur Lupin. And I'm going to be godmother once I'm old enough," Min announced proudly. "She's adorable, they sent me a picture—she's already mimicking Teddy's blue hair, but she's a natural blonde." Rose grinned and Min sighed and said, "So Harry wants to come over during the holiday, I'm not sure what to say about that."

"What do you mean? He's your boyfriend, isn't he?"

"Well, yeah, but I mean, my dad's going to be really weird about it and… I don't know, it's not really me that he's coming over for. He's probably going to be sleeping at the Burrow a lot too, though that might be the whole Longbottom clan."

"Why?"

"Their parents are moving out and getting new houses and it's really weird right now since, at least according to Harry, their dad's basically trying to figure out how long he has to wait to be tactful before moving in with Luna."

Rose laughed a little. "Yeah, I can see how that would be awkward."

"Yep. And they don't really have a schedule of who gets the kids when or whatever so they don't really know where they'll be this summer. But it's just the fact that he never asked before now and that bothers me, like he's just coming over because it's convenient for him."Rose didn't really know how to respond and said, "Well, I'd better go down to the feast. Are you coming?"

"Yeah, sure, I'll just finish later," Min said, and Rose walked with her down to the common room and out of the portrait hole. They joined the masses of students going down to the Great Hall, and after sitting with James, Harry, Al, and Maggie, they began to eat, and during the feast Rose noticed that McGonagall seemed rather tense and was talking in a low whisper to Neville for most of the dinner. At the end when she stood up to give her speech, Rose hushed her friends quickly and listened intently as she stepped up to the podium.

McGonagall cleared her throat and began, "The close of another year has arrived. I will begin by announcing the winners of the House Cup. With a leading score of 822 points, the winner this year is Gryffindor." Rose, along with the whole table, cheered loudly as the banners hanging from the ceiling of the Great Hall were emblazoned with scarlet and gold as McGonagall smiled slightly. "And now for my final address to the students and staff for the year." Rose returned her full attention to the headmistress as she continued. "As I'm sure you all know, there were a number of incidents this year that were… dealt with. I have only this to say about the matter: one of the most important opportunities afforded to you by your education is the ability to express yourself. You should always feel free to do so here at Hogwarts." Rose saw Prince's face change into surprise and a bit of anger from the staff table while excited whispers erupted in the Hall. "I will also say that it is incredibly important to remain in solidarity as a community; you will always be safe here at Hogwarts under the protection of your teachers, but there are those out in the world who may want to do you harm. It is crucial that you protect each other, even after you leave this school, as the world outside of Hogwarts is… changing." McGonagall glanced back at the staff table quickly and then said, "We will proceed with graduation now." As Stephanie, Tom Wood, and all the other seventh years walked up to the staff table, Al looked at Rose, seeming impressed.

"That was… brave."

"Definitely. Especially after what Uncle Percy was talking about," Rose said, nodding. She looked at the headmistress and felt oddly proud, and made sure to glare at Prince quickly before turning back to Al. "I'm a little afraid of what will happen next year."

"Me too," Al admitted. "But at least Prince won't have too much power, like you said."

"Yeah, I suppose," she muttered, but she couldn't help thinking that Prince would probably take as much power as he pleased.

Rose was bringing her bags down to the common room to be taken by the elves the next morning when she nearly ran over Emma with the trunk on her way out of her dorm room door. "Oh, sorry, Emma, I didn't see you," Rose said, and Emma smiled.

"Oh, it's fine. I've got my bags too. It's been mental today, with all the foreign students leaving and all that; when is Maggie going?"

"Pretty soon," Rose said. "It's a little early, but apparently it's dangerous to Apparate to a different continent so she has to take a plane."

"Oh, right," Emma said. "Are you going to see her off?"

"Just to the entrance hall. You can come if you'd like, I'll be going down soon." They had reached the bottom of the staircase and Rose stacked her luggage with the others' in the middle of the common room, ready to be boarded onto the train. "Let's go, then." She and Emma reached the entrance hall and saw many students gathered there sending off the other foreign students, and with Al already talking to Maggie. She smiled when she saw them and quickly gave both of them hugs. "Are you leaving now?" Rose asked.

"Pretty, soon, yeah," Maggie said. "I'm glad you guys came down."

"Of course," Rose said. "When does your flight leave?"

"About eleven," Maggie said. "I'll be back in Boston in about eight hours."

"Well, make sure you write to us," Rose said.

"Oh, yeah, definitely," Maggie said. "I'll find out all the details about your friend and that girl." Rose smiled, though she'd really want to talk about anything else.

Lucy walked over to where they were then from saying goodbye to the sixth year exchange student and said, "You'll still be in the Army, we'll keep your name on the list." Maggie laughed and nodded.

"I really like what you guys are doing. I might even get a group started at Salem—well, I'll try. It'll probably be about native magic equality too, though."

"Oh, no, sure, that's brilliant. We'd advocate for that, too, but it's not really an issue here. Keep in touch with us, we can work with you guys," Lucy said, eyes lighting up, and gave Maggie a quick hug before running back across the room. Maggie smiled.

"I guess I'm doing that, then," she said, and Rose laughed. "I'll write to you all summer, Rose. Do you guys have phones?"

"Er, we have a phone at home," Rose said, "not cell phones, they don't work here yet."

"Okay, well, send me your number in a letter and I'll call you, then," Maggie said. "But you guys should really look into adapting the Muggle technology; there's already a ton of models available in America that repel magical energy, it's like a protected signal or something."

"Tell Lucy about it, she's already been working on that kind of thing," Al suggested, and Maggie nodded.

"I think I have to go," she said, and picked up her bags. "I'll see you around!"

"Bye!" Rose called as Maggie walked out to meet the representative waiting for her, and turned around to say, "I have to go get Musetta, I'll be back."

"Hurry up, the train's leaving in an hour and we've got to get to the station," Al said, and Rose nodded before running away and up to the Owlery. By the time she got there, students were already filing out onto the path to Hogsmeade station. She looked out over the grounds, from the tip of the North Tower to Hagrid's hut with smoke pouring out of the chimney on the edge of the forest, and smiled a little as she picked up her owl.

"Come on, Musetta, let's go," Rose said. Musetta seemed to click in disapproval, and Rose nodded. "I know, I don't want to either." They hurried down to the entrance hall where Al and Emma were standing, Al looking impatient.

"If we miss the train, I'll kill you," Al warned and Rose laughed as she walked out of the castle with the two of them. When they reached the train, Hagrid was helping students on to the cars and waved at them when he saw them. "Hello, you lot!" he called out cheerfully. "Your brothers and sister are already in a compartment down at the end of this one, want a hand up?"

"Sure, Hagrid," Rose said, smiling, and he helped the three of them up to the car door. "We'll see you next year!"

"Have a great summer, Rose, tell your mum and dad I said hi. You too, Al," he added, and slide the car door shut. They walked down the hallway until they saw the top of James's head through the window and sat down in the compartment with James, Lily, Collin, and Hugo. Rose let Musetta go outside and she flew along with the train for most of the ride home, finally coming back in through the window when they reached Surrey and sat on the window ledge all the way into King's Cross.

When the train stopped, Collin hopped off immediately and ran to his dad standing nearby Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry, and Emma followed him, exasperated. Hugo was cleaning up the wrappers from the candy trolley from around his seat while all three Potter cousins left the compartment. When Hugo finally had all of his things, Rose followed him out the door and they ran into Aidan in the doorway. "Oh, hi, Aidan, I didn't know you were on this car," Rose said, and he smiled.

"Er, I wasn't, I was looking for Jared and Stephanie, have you seen them?"

"No, sorry," Rose said. "They'll probably be on the platform, let's go." Aidan nodded and followed her and Hugo off of the train. Hugo ran over to their parents standing next to their aunt and uncle and Emma and Collin's dad. By this time, Mr. Dursley looked a little overwhelmed by his son's stories and Rose tried not to laugh while she made her way over to the group.

"Oh, is this your parents?" Aidan asked.

"Er, yeah, well, the couple on the right. That's Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny there."

"Harry Potter?" Aidan asked, and his eyes lit up before noticing her discomfort. "Er, well, I did know that, I suppose. So the ones talking to Hugo, then. I'll say hello."

"Oh, er, you don't have to, I could help you find the MacMillans—" she said quickly, already fearing the inevitable teasing from her dad, but Aidan shook his head.

"No, it's only polite, we've been together for four months, I'll come with you."

"Okay," Rose finally conceded, and Aidan walked confidently over with her to her doom.

"Hi, Rosie, how was the term?" her dad said, smiling.

"You can probably read all about how my term was in the Prophet," Rose said, and her dad grinned.

"Yeah. Your mother wanted to send a Howler, I told her no."

"I did not! We were very proud of your bravery."

"Uh-huh. She's just worried about your big brain."

"Well, yes, Ronald, if my daughter has a concussion—"

"This is Aidan," Rose interrupted, and Aidan smiled and stepped up to her dad.

"Who?" he asked.

"Aidan Tanner, sir, pleasure to meet you," he said, as Hugo said, "Rose's boyfriend."

Rose's dad raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Really? Uh, yeah, brilliant, hi," he said, and Aidan held out his hand. Her dad shook it, sharing a look with her mother, and said, "Ron Weasley."

"And you must be Rose's mother," he said, turning to her mum, and her dad gave her a look that appeared as if he was trying not to burst into laughter or tears. Rose was turning red as he shook her mother's hand too. "Er, well, I'd best be off, I should find the Macmillans—I'll write to you, Rose, let me know if you'd like to visit, I'm sure they wouldn't mind."

"Yeah, of course, you too," Rose managed, and Aidan hugged her before waving to her parents and walking off into the crowd.

"This is new," her dad said, grinning, and Rose rolled her eyes. "He seems… nice."

"Not really," Rose said quietly, "can we go?"

"Not really?"

"Since Valentine's Day," Hugo announced, and Rose glared daggers at him as her mother hushed him.

"Oh, that's interesting, Rose, you never mentioned…"

"Dad."

"Okay, okay… he isn't thick, is he?"

"No, Dad, he's a Ravenclaw."

"All right, just saying, your mother used to go for—"

"I did not!" her mother exclaimed indignantly as they reached the car.

"Really, Hermione? You didn't? Cormac McLaggen?"

"That was to make you jealous."

"Are you serious?" her dad said as they got into the car. "I've spent the past 25 years thinking you actually somehow fancied that—" he seemed to remember his children were in the car and held his tongue as their mum laughed.

"No, of course not. He seems lovely, Rose," she added, turning to face them in the back seat.

"He's a Prefect," Hugo sang, enjoying this a little too much.

"Really, Rosie?" her dad groaned.

"You were a Prefect, Ronald, really!" her mum laughed. "I like him."

"Can we talk about anything else?" Rose moaned.

"If you'd like to talk about sneaking out of the castle to go fight attempted murderers—"

"Oh no."

The rest of the car ride proceeded much the same as this, and Rose was very glad when they finally reached home.


End file.
